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Aladna
-
Kamala grins at Carol as the older woman hands her a memory headset. They’re on a trip to Aladna, just checking in, making sure they’re all okay – and visiting Yan – and they’ve borrowed a large courtyard in the Palace to do some training.
They use the memory headsets every time they catch up, so Carol can review fights that Ms Marvel gets into, to help Kamala improve her skills.
Yup, not only is she on a first-name basis with Carol Danvers, not only are she and Carol teammates, Carol is sometimes also her Mr Miyagi!
(Sometimes, Kamala’s inner fangirl still can’t believe it and still can’t stop fangirl-squealing over the fact…)
(…and sometimes, her inner fangirl ain’t particularly inner.)
Hey, Kamala’s learned that Carol’s just a person too, puts her pants on one leg at a time, makes mistakes and screws up – badly – and is just trying to work things out like the rest of them, and has favourite snacks and kinda-lame-but-very-fun PJs and is wrapped around her cat’s paw (well, flerken’s paw), but she’s still Captain Marvel, still THE Carol Danvers too, she’s still a Marvel! You know, she’s a particularly awesome person who also happens to be a big-name legendary superhero and a bona-fide Avenger?
Besides, Kamala gets super-excited about their training seshes ‘cos they’re awesome and great fun, okay?
And most importantly…
…Carol’s her fellow Marvel, teammates look out for each other, and Kamala’s firmly of the opinion that Carol needs a bit more fun in her life.
(She’s lost so much. Lost Maria and Monica. Her family. Not to mention, she’s still struggling to regain some of her precious memories of them.)
Yeah, it’s kinda a personal mission of Kamala’s to look after Carol until Monica gets back.
(Hey, Carol’s THE Carol Danvers, but no-one can do it all alone, and Kamala reckons – has learned – that when you’re trying to do big things, like save your city/world/galaxy/universe, ‘cos you’re a superhero, you need more support.)
Kamala’s Look After Carol Plan includes bringing the right energy for training sessions – making sure there’s lots of funsies and it isn’t just all SERIOUS BUSINESS! - and lots of hugs, ‘cos touch starvation is bad. It also includes lots of invites to dinner whenever she’s sorta in town – Ammi’s in total agreeance with that part of the plan!
She puts on her headset, reaches out to give Carol a fist-bump with an explosion (bringing the energy!), and then, Carol puts on her own headset and they dive into Kamala’s memories.
-
She and Kamran are hiding behind a teacher’s desk at Coles. He winces again, and she reaches out to take his hand.
‘You with me?’
He manages to smile at her.
‘Always was.’
And then, they’re leaning in, for her very first kiss ever…
-
‘…will you be alright?’
Kareem seems slightly surprised by her question. He nods and smiles at her (it’s a soft smile), and takes off his Red Dagger scarf, draping it over her shoulder and smiling a touch wider.
He takes several backwards steps, still looking at her, before raising a hand in farewell, turning and running off. He quickly disappears into the nooks and crannies of Karachi alleyways.
-
‘You’re Kamala Khan. If you wanna save the world, you’re gonna save the world.’
On the roof of the Circle-Q, sitting side-by-side, Bruno looks at her when he says that. He says it with absolute faith and love - like she tells him all the time that he’s gonna get into CalTech, he’s Bruno, and they’ll be lucky to have him! – and with something else (more?) that she can’t quite put her finger on…
-
Kamala tears off the headset, feeling herself flush and covering her face with her hands.
‘Okay, you were so not meant to see that…’
She peers through her fingers to see Carol smirking teasingly at her as she takes off her own headset.
‘Special someones?’
Despite the smirking, Carol’s tone is gentle, with a cool aunt/big sister kind of vibe. (Carol Danvers is her cool aunt/big sister, kinda!) Kamala feels herself flush more, but lowers her hands, sighing.
‘It’s kinda complicated…’
-
Yan blinks as he walks away from his private courtyard on quiet feet, leaving his princess and the Ms Marvel to their conversation without them ever being aware that he was behind the large statue of Aladna’s greatest princess, his late mother.
Kamala’s love life is certainly worthy of the drama she tells the story of it with! Three young men, all competing for the honour of her hand?
Well, it is no wonder, Yan thinks. She is a star who shines almost as bright as his star.
Naturally, there is only one solution for this situation, only one proper, honourable solution. Kamala must choose her husband - a man to stand by her and aid her in her quests to protect them all - the proper, honourable way!
The little star deserves no lesser!
His and Carol’s marriage is not a true one, but Yan still strives to be a good husband.
He will begin making the arrangements.
-
Earth
-
Yan dodges green hardlight that is so similar to the Ms Marvel’s, taking a moment to use his staff to shatter hardlight that has surrounded two of his personal chorus. Together, the three of them duck to avoid the whip-sword that the young man they are trying to collect wields expertly, and while his chorus serves as a distraction, Yan sneaks around and under the young man’s guard.
The fight is very exhausting. It tests all of Yan’s skill, and he would have had no hope of winning if not for his chorus’ backing.
With some regret – this young man is looked on with great fondness by the little star – Yan stabs him with a sedative dart.
A skilled warrior, clearly very strong. Gifted like Kamala is, with the power of the Noor. Very handsome.
Worthy, Yan thinks.
-
And he thought the previous fight was a challenge.
Perhaps, Yan thinks, it was not a blessing that the first two young men they had to collect were so near one another.
It would have been good to have more of a rest first!
They finally manage to overcome and sedate the very canny and well-trained warrior who is Kamala’s second suitor. Yan motions to his chorus to leave the young man’s red scarf in place; it would be unkind and disrespectful to remove his mask if he would prefer to leave it on, and he is not familiar with all the vagaries of Earth’s cultures, perhaps this young man must wear this for his modesty, for his beliefs, like how the little star cannot wear a traditional Aladnean noblewoman’s gown, for it is too low-cut, and bares the shoulders.
This one is a very skilled warrior too, and while not gifted like Kamala, and not as tall as the first one, he exudes a natural charisma, a presence, that Yan knows many young Aladnean men would be very jealous of.
They also appear to have interrupted him in a noble quest.
(Yan orders his chorus to tie up the ruffians the young man was fighting, release the young women and girls they had locked in a cage and throw the ruffians into the cage instead. He also orders the handover of all weapons they found on the ruffians and in their base to the young women, as well as all the Aladnean weapons they can spare, so they do not find themselves locked up again.)
(Yan has learned from Carol that matriarchal societies are very rare on Earth – this is something he does not understand as it is entirely alien to him; how does Earth society even function? – but he still finds it utterly incomprehensible that these young women seem to have been treated like objects to barter and buy and sell.)
Worthy, Yan thinks.
-
Yan smiles in thanks at the lead of his chorus, as the other man helps him up from where he was trapped in a pile of taffy-like substance.
As another member of his chorus walks past, carrying the little star’s unconscious third suitor over his shoulder, Yan nods in acknowledgement and gestures towards their ship, parked on the roof and cloaked.
This one is not in the peak physical condition of the other two, and is obviously no warrior, but he is extremely clever (he seemed to produce the very effectively annoying taffy in an instant, mixing this and that as he ran around his apartment) and noble, too.
His first act was to activate some kind of technologically-advanced system to protect his grandmother, needless though it is. Yan briefly considers whether they should get around the system somehow to let the poor woman out of her bedroom, but decides they should not give her more of a fright, and he does not know how to deactivate the system; if he breaks it, this suitor, the little star’s dearest friend in the world, will be sad, perhaps, and then the little star will be sad, which will make everyone sad.
This suitor is also fitter than Yan thought he would be, as he seems to – from Kamala’s stories – spend so much time sitting in a chair. Though perhaps guy-in-the-chair is an Earth figure of speech?
Yan nods in satisfaction.
Worthy.
Three worthy suitors. All strong, brave young men, not surprising for how strong and brave the little star is; only the very best of young men on Earth would dare pay court to her!
Three worthy suitors, all safely collected.
It is time to go home and begin the tournament preparations in earnest.
-
Aladna
-
Bruno wakes up slowly, feeling groggy and with a nasty headache.
The last thing he remembers was being ambushed as he brushed his teeth in his pyjamas, activating his Zuzu-powered security system to keep his nonna safe, and doing his best to thwart what seemed at the time – and is now confirmed to be – a kidnapping attempt.
Obviously, he failed.
He looks around, and blinks in surprise as he recognizes the two other people in the room with him.
‘Kamran? Kareem?’
The latter appears to have been kidnapped from a Red Dagger mission; he’s wearing his Red Dagger suit, complete with still-in-place red scarf. The former was likely at the gym; he’s wearing gym shorts and a sleeveless shirt.
(Great, says a little voice in Bruno’s head – the same one that gets jealous.)
(Look, superhero suit and gym clothes are not as embarrassing, lame or dorky as your pyjamas, which consist of check flannel pants – quite normal, nothing to see here – and a T-shirt that proclaims that you are a Founding Member of the Ms Marvel Fanclub, complete with an admittedly adorable Chibi-style cartoon of Ms Marvel…who happens to be your best friend and, well, you know.)
(It was a gift from Kamala that was quite literally forced into his hands – I have MERCH, Bruno! MERCH! I’m a real real superhero now! – and she’d somehow know if he never wore it, and poke him endlessly for it and mock-pout at him and dramatically proclaim that she thought they were BFFs, yet he betrayed her like this.)
(Besides…A, it does provide opportunities to tease KK, B, it is admittedly awesome that his best friend is a superhero with merch, and C…look, it’s not as if the statement is untrue.)
Kamran and Kareem blink at him too.
‘Bruno?’
The three of them blink at each other for a couple more seconds, shaking off the last of whatever they were knocked out with, before, at the same time…
‘Kamala.’
She’s a superhero. On an intergalactic level now.
All three of them got kidnapped.
The most likely explanation is that this is a trap for Kamala.
Shit.
Kamran and Kareem glance at each other, then both turn to him automatically.
‘Is Kamala alright?’
‘Where is she?’
‘The last time I saw her, she was sitting on her couch, stress-eating pistachio kulfi.’
Kareem just nods as if he isn’t particularly surprised. Kamran, on the other hand, just looks even more worried.
‘Is she okay?’
Bruno lifts a shoulder wryly.
‘College applications, and it’s Kamala.’
She has a tendency to stress-eat. This may be related to Mrs K’s tendency to stress-cook.
Kamran blinks. Kareem intercedes before Kamran can say anything else, though.
‘Do you know where we are, or who took us?’
It had occurred to Bruno, running around his apartment, kicking over furniture as he mixed up the Elephant’s Toothpaste analog that’d been used to great effect against Damage Control, that the aliens attempting to kidnap him fit a particular description. However, he’d dismissed that as a possibility, as they were, well, attempting to kidnap him.
Now, he has to re-evaluate that conclusion, because the room that they’re in fits Kamala’s description of the architecture (including her drawings), and…
…Bruno hears singing. A lot of singing.
‘I think we’re on Aladna-‘
‘-where on Earth is Aladna?’
Kamran looks like he’s wondering if this is a country or a city he’s not heard of. Kareem, meanwhile, quips as he looks out the window.
‘As they say, brother, we are not in Kansas anymore.’
Kamran still looks confused, so Bruno continues.
‘Aladna isn’t on Earth; it’s another planet.’ He pauses, as Kamran attempts to adjust to the fact that they are in space. ‘And I think we’ve been kidnapped by its Prince, who is Captain Marvel’s husband.’ Kamran blinks again. Even Kareem seems to be slightly startled or confused by this piece of information. ‘As to why…’ According to Kamala, Prince Yan is extremely nice, an all-round good guy, knows how to throw a party, has an awesome if very extra sense of personal style and has some truly amazing tailors working for him! (Her new whip-dupatta is awesome.) ‘…I have no idea whatsoever.’
-
It doesn’t take very long before they find out why they’ve been kidnapped.
-
Bruno, Kamran and Kareem all blink at the prince in immense confusion as he sings at them.
Prince Yan sighs and switches to speech.
‘You are here to engage in honourable combat for a great honour! Our Princess, my star, my wife, has a very dear friend, Kamala, the Ms Marvel of the Marvels. Of course, you all know her well!’ They all nod slowly. Prince Yan grins and spreads his arms as if making a grand announcement that should make them delighted. ‘You are here to fight for the honour of being chosen by her as her husband!’
‘What?’
They all say that in-synch.
Prince Yan gestures outside the window.
‘We are having a great tournament in only three days, so you must begin to prepare immediately!’
‘We’re not fighting each other, man.’
Kamran says that as he exchanges a glance with Kareem, then looks at Bruno, like he thinks that the three of them can take the prince and escape. Kareem seems to think that they are better off using more subtle tactics, because he gives a hand signal to Kamran behind his back as he addresses Prince Yan.
‘We will not.’
That is said simply, but as if it is non-negotiable.
‘No, absolutely not, never.’
A, from a moral standpoint, Bruno refuses.
B, he couldn’t even if he wanted to.
(Kamran and Kareem are badasses.)
(Bruno is…decidedly not.)
They’ve all seemingly silently agreed to ignore the husband/marriage bit.
(Bruno, for one, is grateful.)
(He’d prefer to not turn into a tomato, if only because Kamran and Kareem are obviously far less pasty, and thus far less susceptible to vasodilation-induced colour changes.)
Prince Yan seems to realise something, and raises his hands placatingly.
‘Oh, no, it is not fighting as you know it. I believe on Earth it is more like…what is it called?’ He considers, raising a hand to his chin, before holding up a finger in dramatic realisation. ‘Not quite a rap battle, not quite a lip-synch battle, not quite a singing contest…it will be a combined sing-off and dance-off!’
‘What?’
-
Earth
-
In her Ms Marvel suit, Kamala stands in the middle of Bruno’s apartment (which is a mess – all the furniture’s been knocked over, and there’s globs of Bruno’s almost-Elephant’s-Toothpaste everywhere), hugging Bruno’s distraught nonna.
She’d gotten an alert on her phone from Zuzu, and literally dropped everything to rush to the Circle-Q, but she was too late. Bruno – and whoever took him – was gone.
Kamala swallows down her own panic and lets go of the older woman.
‘Do you remember anything about the people who took him?’
Nonna shakes her head.
‘I never got to see them, I was in bed already, and he had Zuzu lock me in before I even realised they were here…’ That, Kamala knows, might well have saved Nonna from the bad guys who kidnapped Bruno. Of course he’d have prioritized keeping Nonna safe, he’s Bruno. ‘…but I heard a lot of…singing?’
Singing?
Aladneans?
Could there be some kind of political infighting on Aladna? Could someone be trying to, like, leverage Yan by leveraging Carol by leveraging her by kidnapping Bruno?
Kamala hurries over to the Zuzu unit in the corner of Bruno and Nonna’s kitchen, and gives her password phrase. Zuzu recognizes her voice and her words, and she’s able to bring up the security footage on her phone.
But instead of menacing-looking rogue bad-guy Aladneans…
…Kamala sees Prince Yan and the Royal Chorus (AKA Royal Guard, in Earth terms).
What?
Her phone rings.
A video call request, from a number saved into her phone as ABC Chinese Restaurant.
Kamala answers it.
The elderly woman who serves as Chief Archivist of the Red Daggers – who insists Kamala call her Nani Hazeema – appears on her phone screen.
Nani Hazeema wastes no time on pleasantries, looking extremely grave.
‘Kareem and Kamran have both been taken, by enemies we do not recognize.’
No, no, no…
…what is going on?
What is Yan doing?
What is he thinking?
…has he been replaced by a rogue Skrull? Is he, like, mind-controlled? Been hit on the head a few too many times?
‘…let me guess, they sang a lot?’
-
Kamala dials another contact on her phone. It takes a while for the call to get through; there’s a bunch of things the signal has to get routed through, bounced off, etc.
(Carol goes out of standard cell service pretty regularly.)
‘Carol? Help!’ Kamala looks around Bruno’s wrecked apartment. ‘Okay, so, long story short, your husband kidnapped my BFF, and two of my friends!’ She nods, staring at the mess that was once Bruno’s couch. ‘Oh, it was definitely a kidnapping!’ She nods again. ‘Yeah, I know, but trying not to be, like, overly paranoid…’ She nods yet again. ‘…see you on the roof. He’d better have a good explanation for this!’ She smiles. ‘Ooh, really? First dibs? Thanks, you’re the best teammate!’
-
Aladna
-
‘…see, they are safe and well and none the worse for the wear!’
Prince Yan gestures widely as he sweeps back into the room where Bruno has been stashed alongside Kamran and Kareem…
…being followed very closely by Kamala, who is glaring at him with her arms crossed. Carol Danvers follows, looking very much like she’s simply a spectator.
When Kamala catches sight of him, Kamran and Kareem, she breathes a visible sigh of relief. Then, she looks sheepishly at them.
‘Hi…sorry about the whole…’
Kamala gestures nebulously as she trails off.
Bruno shakes his head, smiling at his best friend, a touch wryly.
‘It’s okay, KK. It’s not your fault.’
Kareem nods in agreement, shrugs nonchalantly.
‘A good fight now and then keeps one sharp.’
Kamran just shrugs and smiles at KK too.
That makes her smile at the three of them…
…before she blinks and takes a good look at them, brow furrowing with concern.
-
A minute later, Bruno, Kamran and Kareem are all spectators – like Carol – as Kamala yells at an alien prince.
She is particularly unhappy about the fact they were injured during their kidnappings: Bruno has scraped knees, Kareem has a shallow cut on the back of his left hand, and Kamran has scraped knuckles, presumably from trying to punch a member of the Aladnean Royal Guard, given their coral-like armour.
All of their injuries were treated, and they’ve been well looked after the entire time, but that doesn’t seem like it can save Prince Yan from Kamala.
Kareem looks on, with an amused almost-smirk on his face, leaning casually against the wall with his arms crossed.
Kamran, however, looks a bit perturbed.
He looks at Bruno with a question.
Bruno nods, a little bit wryly and exasperatedly but admittedly very fondly (look, he knows he’s a goner, okay?) and raises a shoulder.
It’s Kamala, and sometimes, she’s her mother’s daughter.
‘…I attempted to explain, little star, but-‘
Kamala interrupts Yan with a look, eyes narrowed, and pokes the air in front of him.
‘You kidnapped them and hurt them!’
That is the fourth time she’s yelled that in the last two minutes.
Yan bows his head in apology.
‘I am sorry, Ms Marvel.’ He then turns to Bruno, Kamran and Kareem, and bows deeply. ‘You have my deepest apologies.’
That seems to finally stop Hurricane Kamala’s assault on him, though she still looks grumpy. Yan makes a gesture, and a member of his staff enters the room via a previously-hidden trapdoor, bearing a plate with something that vaguely resembles pakoras, if pakoras were purple and the size of your head, and a large bowl of what looks like very brightly-coloured fruit cut into fancy shapes, including stars, Ms Marvel’s lightning bolt, cats and what might be slothbabies.
Yan takes the tray from the man and offers it to Kamala with another bow of his head.
‘The seaweed fritters you love, without any animal products, of course, and some of our finest fruit. It is extra sweet this season, little star.’
Kamala smiles unconsciously, before her expression sets stubbornly again into grumpy. She very deliberately ignores Prince Yan and his Apology Food, and turns back to Bruno, Kamran and Kareem, that concern coming to the forefront and written clearly on her face again.
‘You guys are okay?’
They all nod.
‘I have had far worse hospitality as a prisoner.’
Kamran nods in agreement with Kareem’s wry statement, gesturing to the Red Dagger.
‘Same.’
‘They were much gentler than Damage Control.’ Kamala looks at Bruno for saying that. Admittedly, it’s a low bar. ‘I’m okay, KK.’
She spends another moment looking at him – looking at them – before grabbing the tray of Apology Food out of Yan’s hands, quickly divvying it up onto three Noor plates, and sending the Noor plates to hover in front of the three of them.
Bruno hides a smile.
(A lot of things have changed since he and Kamala were seven.)
(This hasn’t.)
(When they were in the second grade, Bruno forgot his lunch on a field trip to a Captain America and the Howling Commandos exhibit, because he’d been too busy scribbling down a Big Idea over his breakfast – he had to get himself ready for school, because Nonna had a shift in the Circle-Q – and he hadn’t been used to eating three meals a day, plus snacks, yet, having only recently come to live with Nonna.)
(A little girl in his class who was even smaller than him, with big eyes, dark hair and chubby cheeks, wearing bright-red Converse, had insistently thrust half of what he now knows is a chicken boti wrap in his face – almost hitting him in the nose with it – and insisted that he eat it, because he didn’t have any lunch and sharing is caring and Ammi always gives me too much anyway and her chicken boti wraps are the best!)
(They ate their chicken boti wrap while Kamala chattered at him about how awesome the exhibit was and how awesome and cool Captain America is and how awesome and cool the Howling Commandos were and he nodded in agreement and chipped in a little bit hesitantly, shyly, between bites, because he’d never had a friend before and wasn’t good at this.)
(Then, after school, when he was starting to feel hopeful that he’d maybe made a friend, Kamala had dragged him over by the hand to the school gates to meet her mom, waving and bouncing so hard in her excitement that he’d felt waved and bounced around too, and introduced him to Mrs K as Bruno, my new best friend!)
(He and KK have been best friends ever since.)
Bruno picks up a seaweed fritter – Kamala will just poke him, figuratively and literally, if he doesn’t eat – and takes a bite, as his best friend whirls around and glares at Yan again, air-poking him once more.
‘This does not mean I forgive you, dude!’
Carol finally speaks up.
‘We need to talk about Earth culture, dear.’
‘We need to talk about why you kidnapped my friends!’
-
‘We need to talk about why you kidnapped my friends!’
Carol glances at the three boys who are all obediently eating their fruit and fritters – none of them appear to be any good at saying no to Kamala – and takes in the looks – the very young looks - that go across their faces. She also takes in the various shades of blushing – from the very slightest suggestion of a flush on the back of Kareem’s neck, to Bruno’s not-bad impression of a tomato.
She then looks at her husband, realises exactly what is going on from the look on his face.
Aladna and Earth have some…significant cultural differences. And as she is a very big deal on Aladna, and Kamala is her friend and teammate whom she’s come to consider a loved one…
…Kamala is now a big deal on Aladna, which means her love life is now of public interest. Is now public business.
Carol takes Kamala by the arm to lead her away, motioning to Yan with her eyes to follow. He trots along obediently as she finds them a private corner.
Carol is little more than a spectator as Yan explains how he and the Aladneans are honourably and properly resolving Kamala’s so-called ‘love square’ by setting up a traditional Aladnean husband-choosing tournament, so she can make her choice. Kamala turns as pink as she can go, eyes going very wide and jaw dropping. Her tone turns disbelieving and horrified.
‘What?’ Kamala slaps herself across the cheek, then mutters to herself. ‘Okay, this is not a nightmare-slash-stress-dream…’ She sounds like she really wishes it was, as she looks back up at Yan again, looking even more horrified and mortified. ‘Dude, not trying to be rude, I know your culture is different from ours and those differences are what makes humans, sorry, sorry, people, sentients, so great, but…what?’
-
‘…Kamala and I are only seventeen, we’re too young to get married where we live on Earth!’
Kamran and Kareem are eighteen, so they can legally get married; Bruno’s not convinced that an argument that on Earth, in most cultures nowadays, eighteen is considered too young, is going to be persuasive.
Prince Yan looks over at Bruno and bows his head in apology again.
‘I am sorry for my oversight about Earth laws.’ He pauses. ‘It will have to be a long engagement then!’
The four Aladnean tailors in the room with them warble sadly in concert.
The three who are measuring him, Kamran and Kareem continue their work as they keep singing a sad song in what Bruno thinks is a three-part harmony. The one who is holding up swatches of colourful fabric to Kamala, apparently trying to choose a colour for her wedding dress, dramatically tosses her samples in the air, dances once in a circle around Kamala, then exits stage left.
Prince Yan sighs and follows the woman, singing about ruffled feathers and how can he smooth them back down.
-
Bruno figured that his and Kamala’s lives would change when she developed superpowers.
He was right, though he admits he didn’t think it would be on the scale it wound up being.
He figured that her life – and thus his, though to a lesser extent, as her guy in the chair – would change again when she became a superhero in an intergalactic sense.
He was right, but he didn’t think it would be quite like this.
-
‘…please, please, please, Carol, I will never, never ever, never ever ever ask you for a favour ever again, pinkie-promise!’ Kamala seems to be permanently slightly pink from mortification; she dragged Carol into the Princess’s suite in Yan’s Palace and got them guaranteed privacy under the guise of having to talk about ‘Earth women things’, so she can beg Carol to use her influence as Princess of Aladna to stop the traditional husband-choosing tournament, for which the stage has already been built in the main plaza. ‘Please, oh captain, my captain, please…’
Carol briefly considers going along with the flow – despite Monica, her life has gotten much brighter and had a lot more laughter in it ever since she swapped into Kamala’s bedroom, but this is the funniest thing she’s seen in months – before deciding that she can’t let these four kids get any more freaked out.
She walks down the hall and knocks on the door that connects her suite to Yan’s.
‘Dear, we need to talk.’
-
The true sticking point is the sing-and-dance-off.
Yan and the other Aladneans simply cannot comprehend how else Kamala is to choose, without seeing whose singing and dancing speaks to her heart the most.
Cultural differences.
However, the Earthlings do manage to make it very clear there will be no engagement and no almost-royal wedding.
As Yan makes the announcement – with an apology – to his very sad subjects (they perk up quite quickly when he says there will still be a great tournament so that the Ms Marvel can choose)…
…the four teenagers all breathe various sighs of relief…
…before the boys are dragged off for more rehearsals…
…and Kamala is dragged off by Yan’s very insistent chief tailor, who sings that while she will not be crafting a wedding dress for some time yet, she will make the most beautiful, most elegant, most stunning choosing tournament dress ever seen.
Carol smiles and takes the bowl of popped grain kernels that a member of Yan’s staff offers her with a nod of thanks.
-
‘No, uh, Kamala – Ms Marvel – is not on all of my clothes.’ Bruno attempts to explain this to a very insistent Aladnean tailor, who has made him an outfit for the tournament. He gestures at his pyjamas, which apparently served as inspiration. ‘These are my sleeping clothes, I only wear them inside my apartment, Kamala gave this shirt to me as a joke…’
On the other side of the room, Kamran is not faring much better.
‘…I normally wear far more clothes than this…’ Kamran gestures between the two mannequins, one bearing his gym clothes and one bearing the outfit that’s been made for him. ‘…and that’s really not my look, man.’
On the other hand, Kareem…
‘…yes, I do think red is my colour.’
-
‘…KK, are you filming this?’
‘…is she always like this, man?’
‘You are trouble.’
-
Like Kamran and Kareem do, Bruno waves at his best friend as she walks past them backstage as the pre-tournament ceremonial elements begin. Kamala waves back, looking a bit pink, and mouths sorry at them again. It’s ever-so-slightly awkward, given the situation, but Bruno finds himself smiling back at her anyway.
Kamala’s outfit probably doesn’t hurt, he thinks wryly. Aladnean fashion…makes a statement.
Carol Danvers is wearing a Captain Marvel ballgown with a large disk-like hat with a veil of ribbons, which appears to be an Aladnean crown.
Prince Yan’s outfit is very extra, complete with that almost-coral-like necklace/chestpiece.
Prince Yan’s tailor went pretty all out on KK’s dress too; it’s a cross between a lehenga kurti and a ballgown (the top part is very much a kurti, while the skirt is very ballgown). She even has what Bruno thinks is the Aladnean equivalent of a tiara: a ribbon-wrapped circlet on her head, with several ribbons tied to it flowing down her hair.
Prince Yan makes an announcement, and Kamala steps out onto stage, and from backstage, Bruno watches as she does a little song-and-dance routine for the Aladneans, far more enthusiastically than Carol did a minute ago. (Carol’s was very perfunctory and formal, Kamala’s is far more vibrant and has a distinct Bollywood flavour.) It makes the crowd cheer loudly for her, and KK grins and bows to even more cheers.
Bruno finds himself smiling wider.
(Kamala is Kamala.)
Then, he sighs – much like Kamran and Kareem - as the music begins to play.
Well, Bruno thinks very wryly, when in Rome…
-
40 years later…
Earth
-
Maryam Carrelli-Khan grins as she helps ButlerBot pass out snacks for Friday Movie Night, a Family CK and Friends tradition.
Friday Movie Night is usually when Ammi and Abbu tell their best stories, because the crowd’s even bigger than usual, which naturally calls for prime entertainment.
It’s a Big Deal, even the ‘kids’ who are grown-up come home, and these are usually the nights where the ‘kids’ bring new additions to the Family CK and Friends.
Always room for one more at the dinner table is kinda the Carrelli-Khan family motto, and it’s kinda literally true, because Abbu invented an expanding dining table.
(As it appears to have no upper limit, it makes little kids think that Maryam’s dad has superpowers or ‘magic’ just like her mom, he just hides it better.)
Today, they got a new addition – Maryam’s pseudo-big-brother Javier brought home his girlfriend Annie.
The whole always room for one more at the dinner table thing started years and years ago when Ammi and Abbu were little kids, and the Khans pseudo-adopted Abbu, never mind that he’s Italian-American and they’re Pakistani-Americans.
Her parents carried on that family tradition of pseudo-adoption, and formalized it by becoming foster parents and adopting many of their fosters properly/legally.
Between foster kids, adopted kids and the scholarship kids from Ms Marvel’s School for Mutants – after-school, weekend, vacation and adult programs available! – Maryam’s parents have eighteen kids and counting, only one of which – her big brother Aziz – she shares a genetic relationship with.
Maryam takes the bowl of popcorn that Ammi passes off to her with embiggened arms, and passes it back a row to Mei-Li, who passes it back again to Amira in the back row, who then offers the bowl to Connor and Mithali, who each take a handful.
Maryam grins as Ammi and Abbu send ButlerBot back to the kitchen for the last round of snacks from the CookBots, heads close together. Her mom grins ridiculously and says something that Maryam can’t make out, but she’d bet a lot of money is, hey, I don’t make the rules, Bruno, you lost fair and square, you gotta tell the kids this one! Her dad sighs. (He’s apparently never learned that Ammi will always use her superpowers to cheat to beat him in things if he doesn’t specify that powers is cheating before they start, despite the literal decades, being a super-genius and having Auntie Naks as a best friend.) But Maryam’s dad doesn’t exactly hide that smile either, as he sits down in the armchair at the front of the room to tell a story before they start the movie.
Oh, this is gonna be a good one!
Yes, Maryam is twenty years old and in college, but…
…Ammi and Abbu have awesome stories, okay? She’s allowed to be excited about her parents’ best-of stories!
(Apparently, her mom and dad used to have to listen to Nana tell them about salamanders and why they are almost extinct in Pakistan.)
(Maryam and her siblings and the rest of the Family CK and Friends are more likely to hear about how sorta-salamanders nearly tried to make humans extinct and how the Avengers stopped ‘em.)
-
‘…and that, kids, is how your ammi and I got together.’
Maryam’s abbu says that in dry imitation of countless fictional characters. Ammi leans over his shoulder and chips in with all the exaggerated drama.
‘Finally!’ Her mom’s grin shifts into a smirk, as she gives her hair a little flip. ‘Also why I definitely proposed first and it was a really long engagement.’
Her dad looks at her mom.
‘We were technically engaged by Aladnean custom, and only considered as such by the most conservative Aladneans. That does not count either, KK.’
Maryam’s littlest little sister Nooriya, cuddled up to her side, bursts into giggles. However, the rest of the crowd is generally not terribly interested in Ammi and Abbu’s little detour.
(It’s a long-running debate between her parents as to who proposed to who first and exactly how long they were engaged.)
(Ammi argues that it was definitely her, and they got engaged either when they were in the 2nd grade and she was seven and he was eight, after they had their first-ever fight and resolved it by agreeing to decide on the getting married thing when they grew up, or ten years later, during the Aladnean Incident.)
(Abbu argues that it was definitely him, and it was when he proposed properly – or mostly, apparently Ammi got so excited she interrupted by yelling yes! and glomping him so he never got to say the question – on the roof of the Circle-Q here in Jersey City, or at earliest, it was during the Not-Truth-Serum Truth Serum Incident a couple years before that.)
(Because it’s a long-running debate – like the Great Hotdog Debate or the CookBots: Cooking or Not? Debate – they’ve all heard it all before.)
‘Rewind, Mom, Dad.’
‘Seriously, Abbu?’
‘You got kidnapped by an alien prince?’
‘There was really a dance-off, with singing?’
‘Your father and I had lots of adventures when we were young!’
Everyone looks at Ammi.
‘Well, yeah.’
‘We knew that, Ms K!’
‘You were Ms Marvel…’
‘…a Marvel…’
‘…a Champion…’
‘…an Avenger!’
‘And Dad was your guy in the chair!’
‘But dance-off?!?!’
‘Do you still remember your performance, Doc CK?’
Javi’s very much non-innocent question makes everyone swivel their heads to stare at Abbu. Ammi, however, gets everyone’s attention, smirking ridiculously.
‘I can do one better: I got video of it, from several camera angles!’ She pauses. ‘Well, the Aladneans did, it was broadcast live all over the planet.’ Ammi’s voice goes sing-song teasing and she smirks even wider. ‘What do we all think about a special feature before the movie? Hands up for yay, keep your hands down for nay…’ Everyone raises their hands. Except Abbu. He just sighs. It’s very exasperated, but very loving. Ammi grins even wider and mouths you know you love us at him, leans over to kiss him on the cheek and wraps her arms around him and plops her chin on top of his head. Maryam’s dad smiles, putting his hand over hers for a beat. (Her parents are still, like, nauseatingly in love after all these years. It’s cute, and really sweet, she’d totally ship it hard if not for the whole, you know, parents bit.) Then, her mom addresses the ceiling. ‘Hey, Zuzu…’