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urgonnaneedabiggership · 2 years ago

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NAMOR (MCU) X MEXICAN!OC

MASTERLIST

A/N: Remember you can find this fanfic on AO3 right here. Any feedback and/or comments are greatly appreciated <3 If you want to be added to the taglist, just say so!

My friends, this is the end of this journey. At least for now. I will post an epilogue in the next days that, hopefully, will leave you as excited for the second book of this fic as I am. If you've gotten this far, thank you so much for reading. See you soon!

Warnings: Violence, weapons, death and un-aliving people. Language.

Word count: 5,679

The tense silence that covered the room and its inhabitants like a heavy, smothering blanket was only interrupted by the clink of spoons against dinnerware. Three women of different ages sat at the table, the eldest and youngest occasionally looking at the third one. She pretended not to notice, but their gazes felt like the scorching sun against her skin. Still, she continued to eat, never taking her eyes off the bottom of the bowl. She wasn’t really hungry, thanks to the queasy feeling in her stomach that’d been plaguing her for the last week or so. After exchanging another glance with the eldest, one of the women cleared her throat before speaking.

“So, what’s your plan, Mercedes?” She asked, receiving a stern look from her mother, who hissed her name angrily. Mercedes carefully placed the spoon next to the empty bowl as she replied without looking up.

“What do you mean?” She asked.

“You know, now that you’re back. Where will you go?” Antonia clarified, always glaring at the other girl. Mercedes looked noticeably confused, furrowing her eyebrows as she finally dared to look up at her cousin.

“Where…?” She asked, “I’m sorry, I thought it would be okay if…”

“Merceditas, lo que Toña quiere decir es si tienes pensado ir a algún lado, o qué piensas hacer ahora. Cinco años es mucho tiempo y…” Merceditas, what Toña means is whether you plan to go somewhere, or what you plan to do now. Five years is a long time and...

“No Ma, that’s not what I meant,” Toña promptly interrupted her, “I’m asking Mercedes where she’s going to go and when she’s planning to leave,”

“Are you being serious?” Mercedes asked, clenching her jaw as she desperately attempted to conceal the fluctuating mix of pain and anger in her voice, “I was gone for five fucking years, Antonia. I just came back two weeks ago, I…”

“No, Mercedes, are you being serious?” Antonia started raising her voice, “You don’t really expect us to let you stay here after what you did to my dad. You didn’t think that just because you and a million others vanished for a while we’d just forget about it? ”

Again at a loss for words, Mercedes turned to look at a silent Moni, whose eyes remained fixed on her intertwined hands on her lap.

“Tía Moni,” She asked, “¿Tú también piensas eso?” Auntie Moni, do you think that too?

Much to her horror, the woman didn’t reply and didn’t even dare to face her. She just pressed her lips together tightly and shut her eyes.

“Tía,” Mercedes insisted, “Tía, tú sabes que yo no tuve la culpa de lo que le pasó a mi tío. Tú sabes que yo jamás quise que eso pasara, yo siempre traté de cuidarlo, nos cuidábamos la espalda siempre pero…” Auntie, you know what happened to my uncle was not my fault. You know I never wanted that to happen, I always tried to look out for him, we watched each other's backs but...

The girl didn’t really know how to continue. Especially because, deep inside of her, a tiny voice wondered whether she was right to refuse to house the woman responsible, albeit indirectly, for the death of her husband.

“Merceditas…mijita, yo lo sé. Tu tío…” She tried to reply until Antonia promptly interrupted her. Merceditas, my child, I know. Your uncle...

“No mamá, no, ya habíamos hablado de esto,” She protested, which in turn silenced the woman once again before her daughter turned to look at Mercedes, “Don’t make this any harder on my mom than it already is,” No, mom, no. We had already talked about this.

Mercedes didn’t say a word, her eyes shifting from the girl she’d grown up with and the woman she thought of as a mother figure.

“Tía Moni,” she croaked, her voice hoarse as the knot in her throat tightened and tears threatened to roll down her cheeks, “Pídemelo y voy a volver a Bawir nomás a visitar a mi abuela, ni siquiera voy a acercarme a esta casa…” Auntie Moni, ask me to and I will only return to Bawir to visit my grandmother, I won't even go nowhere near this house.

“Mercedes, ya te dijo que…” Antonia attempted to chime in just to be immediately shut down by the other woman. Mercedes, she already told you that...

“No te estoy hablando a ti,” She crudely snapped at her before staring at her aunt with pleading eyes. I'm not talking to you Moni returned that same glance, entirely focused on Mercedes despite the insistent glares her daughter shot her way. Moni opened her mouth once, hesitantly, just to close it again before anything could come out. When Moni’s gaze suddenly dropped to her feet, Mercedes felt as if an invisible fist had taken both her lungs and scrunched them into a tiny ball.

“Merceditas, creo que es mejor que por un tiempo…” Merceditas, I think it's best that for a while...

Mercedes didn’t even want to hear the rest. She didn’t even go upstairs to take what she could with her. The woman hastily circled the table, picked up a backpack that hung next to the door, and walked out before slamming the door after her.

Namor had been waiting outside of the house for over half an hour after Mercedes asked him to do so, claiming she had some things to sort out with Moni. Their argument could be heard from where he was sitting, on the spot next to the river. So, when the door swung open and he heard hurried steps coming his way, Namor turned his head immediately. The budding grin on the corner of his lips faded instantly when the person that took a seat on a rock next to him wasn’t Mercedes.

“You’re a loyal one, I’ll give you that,” Antonia huffed, resting her elbows against her knees as she turned to look at him clearly expecting an answer. Namor didn’t make a sound and remained unfazed, staring at the running water before them.

“Alright, then,” She continued, “Mercedes wants us to take a look around the house. Make sure no one followed us while they pack a few things to take her grandmother to the capital tonight.”

With no other gesture to acknowledge her words, Namor stood up and started making his way to the tree line. “Wait! Don’t you want a gun or something?” After receiving nothing but silence for an answer, Antonia sighed annoyed before following suit.

“You look anxious,” She commented after ten blissful minutes of complete silence, seeing Namor open and close his fists repeatedly as they walked, “You should’ve come armed. Last time I went to investigate a noise unarmed somebody beat me unconscious and when I opened my eyes I was tied up in the middle of the jungle,”

“I can look after myself just fine,” He dryly replied, still refusing to look at her. Noticing the edge in his voice, Antonia scoffed and shook her head.

“She must’ve already made a great job at telling you about me, hasn’t she?” The woman spoke scornfully, “The evil bitch who just won’t forgive her for killing her dad,”

Namor stopped himself before attempting to argue with her, clenching his jaw and taking a deep breath before continuing to walk.

“Let me tell you a few things about her, then,”

“You told me enough back there,”

“Oh, trust me, it’s not nearly enough,”

“I don’t want to hear it.”

“Shit, she’s got you good, doesn’t she?” Antonia sneered as he walked faster to move away from her.

“You know she’s married, right?”

“Sí Javier, ya sé,” Mercedes whispered into the phone, tapping her fingertips against her knee “No me importan los años, cabrón. Me sigues debiendo un favor.” After a few seconds, she cursed under her breath and angrily hung up the phone, impulsively kicking the wooden stool she’d been using as a seat.

A set of footsteps rushed down the stairs and Moni stumbled into the kitchen, worriedly asking what was wrong as she scanned the room. “Nada, tía,” Mercedes replied with a forced, breathless laugh, attempting to sound as calm as she could, “Nada, esta gente que me hace enojar,” Nothing, auntie. Just these people that make me so angry. “¿Qué dijo tu amigo?” Moni asked hopefully. Her niece couldn’t lie to her. She could see on her face that things had definitely not gone her way. Confirming her suspicions, Mercedes shook her head negatively. What did your friend say? “Ambas están más seguras aquí de todos modos,” Mercedes assured her, “No saben cómo llegar a Bawir y ya nos encargamos de los que sí. Pensaremos en algo.” Both of you are safer here anyway. They don't know how to get to Bawir and we took care of those who did. We'll figure it out.

Before her aunt could say anything else, Mercedes shut her eyes tightly as she unsteadily leaned against the wall.

“¿Mercedes? ¿Qué te pasa, chula?” Moni asked, gently placing her hand on the woman’s forehead only for Mercedes to softly remove it. Mercedes? What's wrong, sweetheart?

“Nada, tía. Nomás traigo migraña, no te preocupes.” Nothing, auntie. Just some migraine, don't worry.

Not looking entirely convinced, Moni nodded and sighed, looking impossibly tired. Mercedes pulled her into a hug and rested her chin on top of her head, her eyes slowly drifting from the dirty dishes in the sink to the green bushes that could be seen through the window.

Namor felt as if he’d stepped on a high-voltage cable and found himself unable to move after hearing the words that left Antonia’s mouth.

You know she’s married, right?

Somehow, that concept and the person it was linked to didn’t seem to make sense together. In his mind, there was no way she could be married. She’d never mentioned it. In all fairness, he had never asked in the first place. She didn’t act like a married woman either. At least not in the last twenty-four hours, or during any of those moments he was sure he’d seen something in her eyes that could barely be considered friendship and not…something else.

Then again, wishful thinking was real. A very real, terrifying possibility.

“Where is…?” He asked once he’d somewhat regained his ability to speak. Shit. He didn’t even know what word…

“He has been away for a while.” Antonia continued, “They met when she was overseeing some business for a drug cartel. But I’m guessing you already knew about that too.”

He didn’t want to turn around. He knew that, if he did, he would have to listen to everything she had to say. He could just go back to the house, convince her to go back to Talokan before nightfall, get soldiers to guard the house day and night despite the risk, and forget all about what he’d just heard, he didn’t need to know. Except he did.

“I can tell you why her name was different in that picture…”

Namor stopped right before turning his neck and furrowed his eyebrows.

“You said you were in the middle of the jungle when you woke up,” He reminded her, “That picture was inside one of the tents,”

When he was met with nothing but a sudden silence, Namor turned around just in time to see a sharp blade about to descend upon his face. Before he could fully process his actions, his self-preservation reflexes kicked in and urged him to counterattack, gripping the attacker’s hand and twisting the arm around with enough strength to redirect the knife’s trajectory right into an astonished Antonia’s stomach.

The woman immediately fell to the floor with a loud thud. Nothing was visible but the handle of the knife and a seemingly endless surge of bright red blood oozed from the injury. As he watched, his earlier words to Mercedes resonated in his mind.

“Whoever did this knew there was going to be a celebration that day and the exact same time at which the noise would be loud enough to camouflage the shooting…

Either that or somebody else told them,”

He cursed under his breath as the realization hit him. In a way, it made some sense. However, even if they weren’t related by blood, Antonia and Mercedes’ chiich had to have been close given how attached both girls had been growing up. But everybody had a breaking point, he knew that. She had reached hers after Mercedes was involved in what happened to Cruz. Everything she’d said was nothing but hateful lies in an attempt to destroy his loyalty to Xmeech. It had to be.

As if he had invoked her with his, her voice calling his name reached his ears, stilling the chaotic tide that drowned his thoughts. However, the effect was short-lived as he realized it was getting closer. Snapping out of his thoughts, the man quickly placed his thumb on the fallen woman’s neck and detected a faint, but existing pulse. Immediately removing the flimsy cotton shirt he’d borrowed, he tore it to shreds and pressed it against her wound.

Namor had to tell the truth. Antonia tried to kill him unaware of his identity. She had harbored so much hatred towards Mercedes that it ultimately led her to sell them out to the enemy, going as far as giving something as priceless as the location of Bawir, their secret haven. Antonia was the person working with them from the inside. There were no further signs of any remaining members of the group that was after them. She didn’t need to stay there any longer. Maybe then she would want to return to Talokan. If only he hadn’t just confessed to almost killing the woman she’d once thought of as a sister.

With a defeated sigh, Namor raised his head to call Mercedes’ name, but the woman emerged from the bushes before he could do so. He felt his heart sink at the sight of Mercedes’ face contorting into a horrified expression, her mouth agape as she ran towards them and knelt next to Antonia

“What happened? I thought you were supposed to be standing guard together,”

“Hold this,” He instructed her, “Don’t let go. I’ll try to lift her,”

“Who did this to her?” She insisted. Still, she obeyed as Namor promptly lifted Antonia’s limp body and followed Mercedes, who led them across the jungle and back into town to reach the small clinic.

“What happened?” Mercedes sputtered once they were sitting in the waiting room, staring into Namor’s eyes despondently. She’d managed to call Moni but wanted to get her facts straight before she arrived, not wanting to discuss them in her presence.

“She suggested we split up and watch a side of the house each, and they got to her before I did,” Namor explained, holding her gaze. Silently scrutinizing his face, Mercedes shook her face and clenched her jaw.

“Bullshit,” She spat out, “They got to her before you? I want to know what really happened.”

Namor opened his mouth to speak again, but before he could make up something else to delay telling her the news that would completely shatter the image she had of her childhood friend, Mercedes chimed in again.

“U jaajile’, kän-än,” She hissed, “I want the truth. You promised.”

She was right. That was what they had agreed. To always be honest with each other, even if they knew the truth wouldn’t be well-received. Namor suddenly noticed the large dark circles under her almond-shaped eyes. His gaze drifted down to her exposed shoulders, covered in goosebumps despite the warm atmosphere around them.

“Are you cold?” He asked. Mercedes looked taken aback by the question and once she noticed his eyes were fixed on her skin, she absent-mindedly ran her hands up and down her arms.

“What does that…?”

“Answer me, please,” Namor sternly insisted.

“A little. I haven’t been feeling well since this morning,” Mercedes admitted, “It’s just the sudden climate change.”

While she perceived a glint of intense worry in his eyes, Namor did not press the matter further and simply acknowledged her answer with a nod.

“Do you trust me?” He asked, his voice barely above a whisper. Nearly with no hesitation, Mercedes nodded and scooted slightly closer to him.

“You have to stay here,” He quietly acknowledged, “Take your chiich somewhere safe. I will do my best to find anything on Wexler’s computer that will help us get to them, and then I will find you.”

“You’re leaving?” She asked, scrutinizing his face in disbelief as she backed away from him, “Now?”

“I just need to let Attuma and Namora know why I’ve been absent for so long,” He explained, “I was supposed to be back nearly a day ago,”

“Does that mean you don’t want me to go back? Can I stay?” She asked in such a hopeful tone that it tore his heart to pieces.

“No, Xmeech. I don’t expect you to return.”

“Can you find out if there has been any progress in decoding the laptop?” She asked tentatively, to which Namor looked away almost ashamedly.

“I don’t think there was, but I will ask.”

“Do you think that will change soon?” The woman insisted. She refused to look into his eyes as if he could somehow peek into her mind and see the conversation between her and that mysterious person that had taken place inside one of those tents back in the jungle. As if he could see she was very much considering it…

His silence did not help his cause at all.

“Let them know you’re okay, but please come back after,” Mercedes pleaded, her mouth pressed in a hard line as she waited for an answer. “If there has been no progress, I will…take my chiich somewhere safe and go back to Talokan with you. To help.”

“Are you sure?” Namor asked no sooner than she had finished her sentence. He could see a glint of hesitation in her eyes and the most selfish side of him beamed when he realized she was struggling to decide even after he had openly granted her freedom. He wondered what kind of cruel person could revel so much in knowing that parting from him, from Talokan, caused her so much pain, “If you’re sure and that’s what you want, you are welcome,”

“Alright. You know where to find us,” Mercedes replied with a soft smile, “As soon as Antonia is out of here…”

“No,” Namor interrupted her so bluntly that she looked at him in slight confusion, “Take your chiich somewhere nobody but you can find her. Do not tell anybody else, not even Moni. Do not trust anybody.”

Before Mercedes could ask anything else and force him to confess whatever he knew, a doctor luckily showed up and asked Mercedes to go with him. As she stood up to leave, the woman turned to look at Namor one more time.

“Wait for me at the house,” She asked, “Don’t leave without letting me know, please?”

“I will see you later, Xmeech,” Namor nodded with a wistful grin as he turned to leave the hospital.

The doctors said Antonia had been very lucky. Despite having lost a fair amount of blood, they had managed to stabilize her and expected her to make a slow but full recovery since the stab had barely touched any important organs. Moni let Mercedes know she would stay with her daughter for the night and sent her back to the house. Deep inside, Mercedes couldn’t help but wonder whether this had re-opened an old injury regarding having a member of her family hurt or nearly killed because of Mercedes. However, she didn’t want to probe further into that and quietly obeyed and walked back to the house. The woman allowed herself to freely enjoy the unbridled relief that washed over her at knowing that Namor was waiting for her there. For once, she even actively tried to avoid fighting the smile that crept up her face as she reached the small cottage.

Mercedes quietly opened the door and walked inside, surprised to find the house in utter darkness. After giving it some thought, she remembered he was probably used to inhabiting poorly lit grottos and might’ve felt more comfortable in the dark. She promptly ran upstairs and peeked through the door of her bedroom, finding nobody but a sleeping chiich inside. Tiptoeing next to the bed, she smiled at the asleep woman and, as she leaned down to tuck a strand of hair behind her ear, noticed a shiny object resting on the nightstand.

It was a round, smooth, metallic bead. Mercedes carefully picked it up and admired it under the dim moonlight.

“Te dejó un pedacito de Sol,” He left you a tiny piece of the Sun

Chiich’s sleepy voice startled Mercedes so much that she almost dropped the shiny pearl. Baffled, the woman lifted an eyebrow and stared down at her grandmother inquisitively.

“Tet decía que K’uk’ulkan servía al Sol,” She continued, resting her head against the soft pillow, “Y que me durmiera o me elegiría para acompañarlo en su viaje de regreso al mundo de abajo,” Tet used to say that K'uk'ulkan served the Sun, and that I had to go to sleep or he would pick me to accompany him on his journey back to the underworld.

“El mundo de abajo es precioso, chiich,” Mercedes replied, sitting on the bed next to her, “Pero ahora tengo que asegurarme de que no les pase nada,” The underworld is beautiful, chiich. But now I have to make sure nothing happens to you.

“Se fue sin ti al mundo de abajo, Na’,” Chiich stated, but instead of seeming relieved or happy the elderly woman looked utterly sad, “Tenía que cuidar a mi Xmeech,” He left for the underworld without you, Na'. He had to look after my Xmeech.

“¿Y quién te va a cuidar a ti?” Mercedes laughed softly, “Va a volver pronto.” And who's going to look after you? He's coming back soon anyway.

“No va a volver,” Chiich shook her head negatively, “K’uk’ulkan se fue con el sol,” He's not coming back. K'uk'ulkan left with the Sun.

“Sí. Y va a volver mañana con el sol también,” Yes. And he will return tomorrow with the Sun, too.

“No,” The elderly woman insisted, “Le pedí que se no se fuera. Le dije que lo necesitabas, Na’.” No. I asked him not to go. I told him you needed him.

“¡Chiich!” Mercedes angrily whispered as she stood up, a line appearing between her eyebrows as she folded her arms apprehensively, “¿Y como por qué le dijiste algo así?” Chiich! Why would you tell him something like that?

Barely perceiving she had done something to upset her, Chiich didn’t answer and simply studied the other woman’s face with an innocent smile.

“Bueno, ¿y qué dijo?” Mercedes asked impatiently, which immediately turned the elderly woman’s grin upside down. Well, and what did he say?

“Sólo se rió. Dijo que desde el inicio, de algún modo, él siempre te había necesitado más a ti. Y que tenía que irse a cuidar a mi Xmeech. Se despidió de mí. Me dijo que te dijera adiós.” He just laughed. He said that from the beginning, in some way, he always needed you more. And that he had to leave to look after my Xmeech. He told me to tell you goodbye.

Mercedes’ mouth fell open as her eyes left her grandmother’s face to look at the still-open door leading to the hall. Hurriedly assuring her she’d be back, the woman left her seat and rushed into every room inside the house, searching for her kän-än. Her guardian. Her guardian that had left without saying goodbye, without giving her some certainty on when she’d see him again.

If. If she saw him again.

Mercedes rejected that thought as soon as it entered her mind. He wouldn’t leave and leave them to their fate like that. She was certain he would come back.

But that could take months. Mercedes had gone into hiding for extended periods before. Hell, half of her life she’d been hiding along with her family, why did it upset her so much now?

Because you won’t see him, a tiny voice in her head said scornfully. If he had told you he’d be back in six months, would you be freaking out this much?

No. Because there would be a deadline. A day to look forward to, not this uncertainty. She wouldn’t spend days wondering if it would take years to see him again. All this time she had felt they were doing this together, that she counted on his support and, no matter how disgustingly soft it sounded, his protection. Now she was on her own again. And she hated it.

Mercedes looked out of the window, her gaze fixed on the thick canopy and the darkness underneath it. It was a perfect hideout. A perfect place to spy on somebody, or talk without being seen. Not even five minutes later, she was running out of the house. Mercedes stood in front of the trees as an ominous gust of wind caressed its leaves, making them whisper. Convinced she was being watched, she looked around before undauntingly making her way into the jungle.

Namor could’ve flown. He could’ve made the journey in such a short time, but he decided against it after accepting there were many things he wanted to think about before reaching his destination. It had been one hell of an eventful day. The many things he had been hiding from Mercedes were eating him alive. The fact that her cousin was confined to a hospital bed with a stab wound because of him, and also that she was the one that had betrayed her in the first place or the knowledge that their attempts to recover the information from the thrashed laptop were not going well at all. What would she think of him if she knew how badly he hoped there had been no progress since they left so she would have to go back? As he numbered all the secrets he kept from her, Namor briefly looked at something he was holding in his hand before releasing one long sigh. He was protecting her. In his mind, he always tried to convince himself that all of that he was doing to protect her. Namor knew that if there was some way to just whisk her away, leave everything that pained her behind, and make everything better…he would do it in a heartbeat, but the title invested in him by his people was the only godly thing about him. Even with all his power, some things were beyond him. He couldn’t take a look inside her mind, see if she was as desperate as he was to see all the things inside his mind that had her name tattooed on them.

She had to know. Nobody kisses somebody else like that unless they knew something, or hoped the other one did. The Talokanil pressed his lips together as the memory of her lips on his haunted him for the millionth time in a frustratingly short time.

He would tell her everything. He swore to himself that he would ease her into everything he’d kept from her once they were back in Talokan, even if that meant…

Namor’s inner dialogue stopped the minute the possibility of her leaving his side came into play. He tried finishing the sentence again. He would tell her absolutely everything even if it meant… The man stopped walking and angrily ran a hand across his face when a noise interrupted his third attempt.

It was his name. One of his many names and now perhaps his favorite, called by a voice that made him terrified of what would happen the day he stopped putting up so much resistance to the effects it had on him. Like right then, when he turned around as alert as if he was bracing for the impact of an assailant just to release every bit of air in his lungs the second she entered his range of vision. Even if she looked as if she was about to tear his face off.

Mercedes practically ran into Namor, pushing him away with all her strength. He took a step backwards despite not having felt anything.

“What the fuck are you doing?” She yelled at him, “Were you going to leave? I told you not to leave without letting me know! Do you think that telling my senile grandmother ‘hey say goodbye to her for me’ would be enough?”

“What?” Was all that left his lips as he furrowed his eyebrows in confusion.

“Yeah, she told me, and here’s your stupid farewell gift,” She took the vibranium bead out of her pocket and shoved it against his chest, “I don’t give a shit if you’re used to doing things in your own time, we had a deal, and that was that you’d let me know before you left, then tell me when you’d come back,”

“Mercedes, I’m…” He tried to explain himself just to be immediately shut down.

“No, no, I don’t care how you’re going to justify it. I…you’re very helpful. You’re too helpful. And I hate that you always seem to lift a weight off my shoulders and I shouldn’t be okay with that, but I’d rather hate myself for needing your help than not having it.”

“So is that all you want from me? Help?” He asked, lifting an eyebrow.

“Wait, no, I didn’t mean it like that…” She immediately tried to apologize.

“Was it help all you were seeking on the tree?” Namor asked in such a blunt, straightforward way that now it was she who nearly stumbled backwards.

“A lot has happened since then,” He continued, not moving from where he stood, “And we haven’t had the chance to properly talk about it.”

Mercedes shifted her weight from one foot to the other awkwardly. Not lowering her gaze despite the violent shift of color on her face was a feat of sheer strong will. Fearing an uncomfortable silence more than whatever that conversation could have in store for her, she cleared her throat and gave a step forward.

“Okay. What about it?”

“Why did you do it?” Namor asked, unfazed,

Just the first question and it already appeared to be the hardest to answer, judging by the shift in the woman’s demeanor and how her eyes drifted to the side for the first time in the conversation.

“I don’t know,” was the disappointing answer. The Talokanil man scoffed and this time lifted both his eyebrows as he got even closer, carefully scrutinizing Mercedes’ face.

“Xmeech, you once told me that you thought I looked into people’s eyes to see if they were lying, remember?” Once she nodded, he continued speaking, “The truth is, I only did it with you. And not because I want to catch you in a lie.”

Noticing how she avoided looking at him as if she’d been caught in the act and to further prove his point, Namor gently grabbed her chin and turned her face to look at him, going as far as cupping her face with his hand to keep her from moving it away again.

“I already know two things about you. You are either a very smart person who calculates her every movement or you’re a reckless madwoman who completely disregards her own safety, there’s no in between with you. And your eyes tell me who you are right then. I can see if you’ve completely planned out everything that’s going on, or if you’re just taking a leap of faith.”

“So…you knew I intended to get you drunk that night so I could escape?” She asked in an attempt to ease the tension with a joke that accomplished nothing but quirking up the corner of his mouth for a moment.

“I didn’t then. Now I realize you knew perfectly well what you were doing, just like I know that that night on top of the tree was a mere impulse.”

“If you know it was just an impulse,” Mercedes quietly replied, “What do you want from me?”

His hand left her face to slide behind her neck, pulling her forward and leaning down to end with his forehead pressed against hers and his eyes closed shut.

“I want to know where it came from and if you would do it again.”

What followed was an impossible silence. Even the insects and other noises of the jungle went quiet around them, or so it seemed to Namor as the only sound that reached his ears was his own heart as it echoed inside his chest when he stopped feeling her skin against his.

He didn’t really know what to expect. Maybe a soft and hesitant brush of lips, which was more than enough. Perhaps she would just breathe on his lips and then back down. Even the possibility of being harshly slapped crossed his mind and would’ve made perfect sense. Being roughly pulled forward not for a kiss but for a hug as sobs flooded his ears was far beyond anything he’d imagined. It wasn’t until he opened his eyes in confusion that he witnessed how frantically she was pulling herself closer to him, burying her nose in his neck and clasping her arms behind his neck as she stood on her tiptoes. Almost on instinct, he snaked his arms around her waist and held her just as tightly against his chest, feeling her irregular breaths as she struggled to keep more sobs from coming out. Mercedes peeled herself off him and, letting out a relieved, breathless laugh, leaned forward to kiss him again. This time she didn’t give a shit about whether he could feel her shaking like a leaf. Willingly letting every emotion rush through her, she pressed her lips against his over and over and over, not even aiming for his mouth anymore and not caring if they landed on his cheek or his eyes a couple of times. When she ran out of breath, Mercedes once again found solace resting her chin on his shoulder as he gently placed a hand soothingly on her hair.

“I’m not ready to be away from you,” She admitted, his flush skin against her mouth muffling her words causing her to move away from him to speak properly, “That’s all I can give to you right now.”

“Does that mean you’re coming with me?” He cautiously asked, holding her face in his hands as he looked at her expectantly.

“We’re not done yet. That shitty computer is our best shot at finding those assholes and I will even if it’s the last thing I do. Even if you had left me behind, I know where to find you.”

“I did mean to go back,” Namor quickly explained in a more serious tone, “Your grandmother must have misunderstood me when I told her I was going back to you because…well, she thinks you already are in the underworld, so I thought it was best to act accordingly. I only went back to explain my absence.”

As he spoke, Namor closed his fist tightly around a tiny, elongated object inside his hand and concealed it by folding his arms.

“I already placed my family somewhere safe,” Mercedes spoke, briefly glancing to the side, “If we hurry, we should be reaching the ocean before sunrise.”

With a nod, Namor gave her a lopsided grin, which she returned before he turned around to walk in the opposite direction. The minute his gaze was off her, Mercedes pressed her lips into a thin line and diverted her eyes to a small cut on her forearm that, fortunately, he hadn’t noticed. While it was covered by cauterized tissue, she could still feel the awkward metallic bump under it and, if one looked very carefully and knew what to look for, the faint light of the tracker was barely visible.

The Translations:

Tet: Lacandon Mayan. Father

Taglist:

@evita-shelby

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skylarstark4826 · 9 months ago

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King Namor would always tell his two children stories of people who lived in the sea. These stories were their favorite bedtime stories when they were younger. Now, when their father tries to tell them more stories of people who lived in the sea, Prince Attuma and Princess Namora would just roll their eyes at their dad. The brother and sister duo liked to explore by way of sea constantly and had never seen these so-called people who live in the waters. Even though the two would constantly bicker while at home in the kingdom of Talokan they worked well together while sailing. They’ve been to multiple countries and most of the other continents together. They got their love of sailing from their father who would be at sea most of his days before Attuma was born. Then, he started sailing less and he kept it to a minimum when Namora was born. After their mother died in an accident when they were little King Namor gave up sailing all together. When his children were old enough he taught them to sail and had them continue in person trades with other countries.

Attuma watched as his sister swung gracefully over his head through the sails. Namora preferred to work the sails and observe the sea while he preferred to steer the ship. There were numerous Talokanil sailors tasked to go with them both for company and to keep them safe. Attuma was softly humming a tune that he remembered his mother singing to him and his sister. He heard a soft thump on the deck behind him and turned enough to see Namora behind him. Her long black hair was twisted up on top of her head, she wore a dark blue dress that went just a little past her knees and no shoes. She swore that the lack of shoes helped her get around the sails easier and he had shrugged in response. The crew was entirely men besides one other woman, their cousin Itzel, who was the ship’s cook. The crew had expressed concern over a woman working the sails but Attuma shut that down immediately. His little sister was perfectly capable of working the sails and she’d ask for help if she needed it, which wasn’t often. Underneath the crystal blue water off of the continent of Africa, there was an underwater kingdom called Wakanda. The kingdom housed an entire population of merfolk throughout their land. King T’chaka and Queen Ramonda had three kids, two daughters and a son. T’challa was the oldest, followed by Shuri and then Riri as the youngest. The three siblings were thick as thieves and constantly got into trouble together along with their cousins Eric and Okoye. The five young royal merfolk were giving King T’chaka gray hairs but his wife just laughed at their shenanigans. She was always telling him to let them cause trouble for now so that they’ll be better to rule their underwater nation together. Okoye and Riri always wandered too far from the castle while T’challa, Shuri and Eric preferred to stay close to home. Shuri could always find whatever she needed for her experiments not far off from the castle. T’challa and Eric were always either helping her gather things or trying to keep the wanderers close by. It could be exhausting being the only men out of the bunch but they wouldn't trade it for the world, they loved their sisters and would do anything for them.

Okoye and Riri had just returned to their little cave with more human items that they had found while exploring. The woman and young girl worked together to place the items with other ones like them. The two swam back and admired all of their human things that they’ve collected together over the years. “I wonder what it would be like to live on the surface.” Riri said to no one in particular. Okoye nodded in agreement then the two of them swam back towards the palace. On their way back they were accosted by a crab and a fish, Ayo and Aneka. Ayo was a mostly red crab although she had some purple dusting her shell. Aneka was a small but beautiful fish and she was mostly purple with some orange in the middle. “Where have you two been? We’ve been looking everywhere for you.” Ayo questioned as they all began to move towards the palace. “We’ve been out exploring, don’t worry we were being safe.” Okoye replied to the crab. Ayo began muttering something under her breath about not wanting children and Okoye rolled her eyes.

When the four entered the palace they went right to the throne room. King T’chaka, Queen Ramonda, Prince T’challa, Princess Shuri and Prince Eric were already there and waiting for them to arrive. “I’m sorry we’re late uncle, we lost track of time while exploring.” Okoye explained to the king. “Don’t worry dear niece, you aren’t that late. You’ve arrived before the council has.” Queen Ramonda answered in a gentle tone. Okoye nodded, then she and Riri took their places in their seats as the royal family waited for the council to join them for the meeting. It wasn’t long after Okoye and Riri joined their family that the council joined them as well. Ayo was standing on the armrest of King T’chaka’s throne while Aneka swam around The Princes and Princesses. Okoye looked at her brother and cousins and could see that they were all bored out of their minds. She was as well and wished she could just leave, the king along with his council weren’t ready to step down from ruling yet so why were they even here? The meeting felt like it lasted for millennia rather than the hour it probably actually lasted. As soon as they were excused the cousins left as fast as they could.

Namora sighed as she stared at the water over the side of the ship. Attuma had asked her to stay on board with Itzel and a few crew members because the person they were at port to trade with didn’t like women being present during negotiations. Her older brother had promised to take her to the market afterwards so she supposed it was ok that she was stuck on the ship. She never understood why men in other countries had such backwards thinking, maybe it’s because she was raised as an equal to her brother her whole life. She is an equal to her older brother and didn’t know why others didn’t get that. Namora paced around the ship while waiting for Attuma to return to take her to the market. He returned two hours later and took her with him to the market. The two looked around together when something caught her eye, it was a jade statuette that had a family of merfolk carved on it. She wordlessly held it up to her brother and he nodded then turned to the vendor to buy it for her. Once it was purchased she happily slipped it into the little satchel that she carried. Their father had made it for her on her twelfth birthday and it’s held up since then. She skipped along behind Attuma and got a few more trinkets to add to the collection in her room.

When the siblings returned to the ship that got ready to set sail to Africa. They had a client there who was willing to give them cloth and other things in exchange for some weapons. Talokan always kept enough weapons for its military but they preferred not to use them. They were more than happy to give others who needed them the weapons that sat collecting dust. Namora was back up amongst the sails while Attuma was behind the steering wheel. Several of the other crew members hoisted the anchor so they could set sail again. Once the anchor was up they slowly moved their way out of the harbor and towards the open sea. When they hit open water they were met with a strong gust of wind and started to travel faster.

Okoye and Riri decided to head towards the town on the west coast of Africa where they liked to watch the townsfolk. They watched people walking around the market that was near the water from behind a rock. They were far enough out that hardly anyone looked that way and even if they did, they wouldn’t spot the mermaids with the way they were looking around the rock. Okoye saw two people walking by together with a few men trailing behind them. The two seemed to be brother and sister so the people behind them might be a crew or guards of some sort. The tall man that was walking alongside the girl was a handsome man. His long dark hair was tied back into a ponytail and he watched his sister as she sometimes skipped a ways ahead of him. “Wow, he’s gorgeous.” Okoye whispered. “Where is he? I want to see the man you’re looking at too.” Riri whispered excitedly and Okoye showed her. Her eyes widened as she looked at the siblings. “Woah, he is gorgeous and so is the girl with him. They look like they’re away from home though.” Riri babbled with excitement. Okoye had to admit that her young cousin was right, they had never seen these two around before. ‘I wonder where they came here from.’ she thought as the two continued to watch them.

Namora sat outside their clients home and was pouting, of course he was another man that looked down on women. She was grateful to be off the ship this time and on solid ground. She turned and looked out to the vast expanse of the sea, hoping they’d return home soon. She loved to travel with her older brother but they’d been away from home for a while now and she misses their father. While she was looking at the sea, Namora could’ve sworn that she saw two heads out in the water. The girl shook her head then rubbed at her eyes, it’s official, she’s been at sea for too long. Attuma had promised this was their last trading destination then they’d head home. He didn’t return to her until nearly three hours later and he took her to dinner at a place that their client recommended, this was his way of apologizing for taking so long. After dinner they went back to the ship and decided to stay in harbor for the night because some fishermen and other sailors said a storm was going to blow through a few miles out from the town. Namora slept buried against her brother’s side that night due to the thunder and he held her tight.

Okoye and Riri decided to recruit the others to follow this ship they had seen to see where it went back to. T’challa, Eric and Shuri agreed to follow them and told the king and queen that they needed some supplies further out from home. The ship stayed overnight in the town’s harbor due to a bad storm a few miles out. The next morning the five cousins tailed the ship as it headed out to the sea. They knew it’d be a while before they reached wherever they were going. They coasted in the wake coming from the ship and would take turns popping their heads up to look at the people on the ship. They all agreed that the crew of the ship were very beautiful people. This knowledge made them eager to see where the ship returned to. It took a few days but they finally entered the waters close to the continent of North America. They followed the ship cautiously but they didn’t head towards the country now called The United States. The ship pulled into a harbor that was outside a kingdom and was met with a man on the dock that had graying hair. The girl half launched herself off the ship and into the man’s arms causing them to realize that this was the siblings’ father.

Attuma was happy to be home but he couldn’t help thinking that he was going crazy. Occasionally on their voyage home, Attuma could’ve sworn he’d seen heads in the water. Namora agreed with him and said she saw the same thing in the water. One of them was the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen, she looked a little older than him and had long hair that was braided. When asked about it Namora said she’d seen a girl about her age who also had braided hair. They wondered if they’d be able to somehow meet these people who live in the water. One night, the siblings go down to the dock to see if they could spot the people again. It wasn’t long before five heads emerged from the water. There were two men and another woman with them, he assumed they were family members. They all talked to each other for hours and the merfolk even showed off their colorful tails. There was even a fascinating colored crab and a beautiful colored tropical fish.

The group of royals discussed random topics until Namora and Attuma saw a lantern coming towards them from the palace. The group split up with promises of seeing each other again as soon as they could. By the time the guards reached the brother and sister the merfolk were already gone. They walked back to the palace with questions on how to help their new companions live on land with them.

#okoye x attuma #attuma x okoye #attoye #attuma and okoye #general okoye #mcu okoye #black panther okoye #attuma of talokan #mcu attuma #okoye #attuma #black panther #black panther wakanda forever #Human!Okoye #human!okoye #Merman!Attuma #merman!attuma

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namor-shuri · 2 years ago

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I swear your commentary on posts is hilarious af 🤣☠️ These video and photo edits are so cool too. Is there a reason why you don’t post more to Twitter (not that you have to, just an observation)? Thanks for everything

Hey 👋🏾💜 Thank you for the kind words. Y’all need to stop gassing me up. My dad jokes/ corniness will know no end lol.

With my Twitter page, sometimes I question whether or not people think I’m stealing work from this Tumblr page bc both my pfp and handles are not the same 🥲 I made my twt before I made this side blog so the handle and pic was a quick “slap together” choice. The phrase “be f*cking for real” is too funny to me so I just ran with it. And then my brain was completely uncreative and was like “namor-shuri” will do rofl. Hopefully people understand by now that I’m the same person, but alas.

To answer your question, I think it’s broken up into two parts. One chunk of it is that I rant A LOT so this platform makes it easier for me to do so while also being creative with color fonts and all that jazz. I also just love the freedom of layouts and stuff like that. From a creative perspective, of course it doesn’t help that Tumblr messes with quality but what I lose in quality, I gain in possibilities [I swear I don’t work for Tumblr and this is not me promoting them rofl].

The other half of the pie is the stark difference of engagement on Twitter vs Tumblr, in my personal experience thus far. Like I said, I made my Twitter first back in late December of last year. It was kind of a random decision but once I realized I was super into the Namor x Shuri ship, I wanted to engage with the fandom more directly and pour into it. Since then, I’ve been able to have a lot of fun with making different artworks, edits, videos, playlists, you name it! Ya girl has been BUSY to say the least lol And what’s been dope is that this fandom has been a fun outlet outside of my professional artwork and stuff like that. All that being said, what slowly became apparent to me was that I wasn’t feeling as included or apart of the fandom as I initially hoped I would. I would try and engage with people or joke here and there and most of what I would get back was crickets, whether it would be on my own posts or my commentary on others. And to be fair, I know it takes time for people to get to know you and build community but it just felt slightly strange. Especially when I would see new pages pop up and everyone would immediately flock to engage with them. I say this to say that absolutely NO ONE owes you anything in life so to be upset that someone isn’t your friend [whether it’s in person or online] is a human experience but you have to understand that not everyone is going to jell with you. There are billions [billions? *does quick google search] of people on this planet. Someone is bound to hate you, while another will worship the floor you walk on. Someone’s going to think you’re okay, while you being your raw and authentic self makes another person’s day. It’s nothing personal. It’s simply a numbers game. So inherently I understood that but it still hurt the 3 year old in me that was just trying to make friends at the playground, you know? lmao But I think what set it off was when I would look up and then see my edits used for people’s banners, fan art, post ideas, etc without asking me or giving me any credit knowing that they also aren’t following me or even engaging with me in any way. It still wasn’t cool but I think what would have made the whole thing feel a little different is if I was more “in the group” but because I’ve been on the outskirts the majority of the time, it just made it sting that much more.

Then I started to get slightly paranoid and wondered if I was missing something. Did I do something wrong? Did I say something that was off? I felt like a message was being sent and that confused the hell out of me [and lowkey still does]. BUT SOB STORY ASIDE lol I brushed my shoulder off, switched gears and thought “f*ck it, let me make my own side blog and do my thing on there” and that worked for me! I got traction after that, people were responding to my stuff and throwing in their own ideas/commentary/analysis etc. I felt like I could engage with people more, even with the limitations Tumblr puts on side blogs. And just the whole vibe overall started to feel really f*cking good. The funny thing too is that I’ve noticed that a lot of Twitter is on here and vice versa so it’s the same folks but for some reason I think this platform has opened up more possibilities for engagement in my experience. Twitter lends to a wider audience than Tumblr unfortunately but I’ve accepted my humble abode on here.

This rant is getting super long so I’ll end with this; I have nothing against the Nashuri fam on Twitter. Just because I’m not necessarily apart of the “crew” doesn’t mean that I don’t find everyone hilarious or amazing in any way. If you think I’m funny anon, you need to read what these girls say because it is SUPERB *chefs kiss* The talent from artworks to fics to think pieces and everything in between is incredible and oozes from that community. But for me, I think I just haven’t found my footing or people over there and as much as it’s been a bummer, I’m still going to be on there to support the dope stuff that comes out of it. I also want to say that just because this has been my experience doesn’t mean it will be yours. I fully encourage you to branch out on different platforms and try and engage with as many people as possible [fandom or not]. I think I just got my finger burned once and immediately gave up rofl. One of the biggest blessings that have come out of the Nashuri fandom in general is it’s vast bipoc community. As a black woman myself, I haven’t experienced this level of inclusivity when it comes to race, gender, language, culture, ages etc in other fandoms. It’s beautiful and I will always be thankful for that.

I also want to drive home that everyone needs to find what works for them. You owe yourself that. If you feel like your aren’t getting what you desire out of Instagram, move to Twitter and see what happens. If Twitter isn’t cutting it, move to Discord. Move to Tumblr, you name it! I think that move for me made a HUGE difference and honestly made me feel better about being in this fandom in the first place. And also this just goes for life in general but just because you might not feel included somewhere doesn’t mean you or the place is a problem. You might just need some scenery change.

Ps: If you are in the fandom and are on Twitter, definitely hit me up and add me! I would love to be mutuals. I’ve seen some familiar accounts from Twitter add me on here and vice versa and it’s been really cool. I appreciate the blogs that engage with me on there and all that jazz. I’ve never had a Twitter before so I’m lowkey new to that world still but grandma’s getting the hang of it slowly but surely.

Thank you 💘

#nashuri #we just got a letter #I realized this is the first time I’ve actually put this feeling into words #I was really thinking about this question like wait why don’t I post on twt more lmao #nothing on the twt girlies #y’all are bad bitches #I’m just clearly not in the squad #and thats okay 🤷🏾‍♀️#you win some you lose some

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pantherandtheseagod · 1 year ago

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#fanfiction #namor x shuri #shuri x namor #mcu namor #princess shuri #seaprincess

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theunfortunateplace · 1 year ago

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Homecoming (Namor X Black OC) Chapter 3

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description: After being away from home for so many years due to school keeping Adella busy she's finally able to go home after her hard work pays off but what she didn't expect was such an eventful homecoming.

Four days that’s how long I’ve been here four days. It’s not that I hated it here it’s quite peaceful. I’m sure someone is worried about me there but non other bit the king himself lets me know he has everything under control.

At least I’m not kept in this room by force. Everyone I met so far has been nice except the girl named Namora. I don’t know what her deal is but she’s constantly side-eyeing me as if I called her dog an ugly rat or stepping on her white shoes.

Attuma, on the other hand, has been very friendly well that’s whenever he does come around.

“The shaman is here to speak with us.” I jump from the sudden boom in volume. I clutch my chest and turn around.

“ I’m gonna need to put a bell on you or something because you can’t keep doing that.” He smiled and crossed his hands behind him.

“ I did make myself known you simply were deep in thought.” He gestured to the door and we exited the room

“Did you enjoy your breakfast?” He asked trying to make small talk as we ventured down the hallway.

“Mhm it was nice but lonely….. the only person I talk to is Attuma but he isn’t always around and you.”

He hummed “ what about-“

“She does not like me K'uk'ulkan.”

“You don’t know that.” I stopped mid-stride and stared at him.

“ I know when someone likes me and when they don’t and she does not either you have seen the looks she has given me or you choose to be oblivious to the fact that she believes I don’t belong here.”

He took a deep breath but didn’t say anything only clenched his jaw as if I had disrespected him.

“We should go before we are late.” He cleared his throat and waited for me to start walking again.

He held the door open for me and I walked in greeted by a couple of people.

K'uk'ulkan and the others conversed back and forth then the man led me to sit down.

“Since you don’t know the language yet I’ll translate.”

I nodded my head and sat there. Hopefully there’s some clarity from this because things are still not making sense.

“There was no escaping this even if we wanted to essentially everything was planned out by our god.”

“So your god had my life planned out how does that make any sense when I don’t worship him?”

“You might have not but your ancestors did well your other ones.” I assume he’s talking about my nonblack ancestors the ones that come from my dad's side

“ I’m not sure that’s true just like the other indigenous people. My ancestors were colonized by the Spanish, and all the families that I know of are Catholic.”

He hummed and looked back at the man who just stared at me. He shook his head and started talking to K'uk'ulkan

“He said our tribe wasn’t the only one who believed in the same god…the name of them is unknown seeing as how they got forced by the Spanish but they never consumed the plant but they farmed with the same soil it came from.”

I nodded my head all of this was just crazy to me. What is that supposed to mean?

“ so….”

“ meaning that your ancestors only got part of the gift from our shared god.”

Gift? What could that-

“So that’s why my family were good swimmers and always loved by the ocean.” I gasped and bit my thumb nervously.

“ which explains why you were dangerously deep in the ocean.” He said watching me nervously nibble at my finger.

“ I happen to be a great swimmer with excellent lung capacity that depth was nothing compared to what I could really do without needing an oxygen tank and before the pressure gets too much.”

“You still shouldn’t have been that far down not for a surface dweller.” Is he scolding me? Sure it’s my fault but I was trying to help.

“Well, excuse me for putting my marine biology degree to use. I don’t just go frolicking around hoping to get killed but saved in the last minute by a handsome man that I saved hours before.” He raised an eyebrow

“The gods definitely picked a good one out for me.” He scoffed.

“You know you’re the last person that should be talking because look how many times I saved you that night?” I rolled my eyes and huffed some nerve of that man.

The man cleared his throat and we both looked at him. He gave both of us a serious face but only K'uk'ulkan had a face that expressed terror.

“What? What did he say?”

“The more we reject our fate of being destined for one another, spending time apart due to quarrels and fail to consummate our marriage bad things will continue to happen which will eventually end in both of our deaths.”

I gulped and ferociously started to move onto biting on my nail so being able to leave is out of the picture. Going back to my regular life is long gone I’m stuck here.

I lower my head and cover my face with my hands overwhelmed by feeling tears begin to fall from my eyes.

I’m never gonna get to see my only family left, they are probably worried sick I should’ve minded my own damn business.

I soon felt a pair of strong arms wrap around me only making me cry harder mourning the life I once had. All because of a god I don’t even worship had my life planned out.

I felt his plump lips briefly press against my forehead shocking me but the tears still flowed. Was this his way of trying to comfort me?

“We will figure it out okay.” He rubbed my back and hummed. I blocked out the rest of the conversation they were having. I no longer was interested and truthfully I was over it. Shortly after he lifted me up placing his hands under my butt I instinctively wrapped my legs around him not wanting to fall. Once again his lips met my forehead, “if there were another way I wouldn't put you through this.”

He dropped me back off to my room and talked for a bit before he had to leave once again, but Attuma kept me company when he stopped by to talk

As I conversed with Attuma joking around and enjoying downtime with him I felt a pair of eyes burning holes into the side of my face.

I look over and see K'uk'ulkan glaring at me while clutching his jaw. I raised my brow confused if something was bothering him. He needed to say something I don’t read minds.

“Once you're able to come out and meet everyone I’ll take you to where the whales stay.” My eyes went wide and clapped my hands

“No, you're pulling my leg you guys have whales.”

He nodded, “yes, when we have long trips we take them out as transportation.”

“So how does dating work here fill me in? I’m sure it’s much different than what I’m used to.” Attuma went to open his mouth but got interrupted by a scoff coming from the corner of the room.

“Um,” he cleared his throat, “yes though I don’t know too much about how surface dwellers date we do courting it’s a process.”

“Ah I see, I’m sure that’s a wonderful experience.”

“ Yaan deberes ku, kin tsoolik u xeej a beetej le je'elo'” (You have duties to attend to I advise you to go do that)

I jump from the sudden base in K'uk'ulkan voice. I shoot a glare at him and Attuma swiftly stood up. I go to reach out for his hand

But once again I’m startled by his shouting. Attuma nodded his head and didn’t look back.

“Why did you do that why did you make him leave?” I stood the only person that wants to talk to me forced to leave because someone wants to have a hissy fit

“You learned nothing today did you?” He cursed under his breath and walked closer to me.

“What the hell are you talking about?”

He scoffed, “you act like you don’t know what I’m talking about how can someone so smart be so-“

“Don't you dare finish that sentence!” I said sternly

“You bat your eyes at my best worrier and reach out for his hand, YOU ARE MY WIFE ADELLA!”

I chuckled and rubbed my temples, “you mistake my kindness for flirting”

“ I didn't mistake anything I know what I saw!”

“Well, get your fucking eyes checked out because you saw wrong. And it’s clear you need that hearing if yours checked as well because if YOU recall I told you he’s the only one that talks to me!”

“Bullshit Adella BULL FUCKING SHIT if you just tried to be nice to nam-“

I scoffed and threw my hands up in the air. “ I’m done with this conversation.”

I walked away only for him to grip my wrist trying to pull me back. I look at my wrist and up at him and snatch it away from him.

“How can you call me your wife when you don’t care to spend time with me, stick up for your cousin when she’s the one being rude to me respectfully, fuck you K'uk'ulkan.” I scoff. “It's funny that I thought when you were comforting me this morning that I could accept my fate, but no, I think I would rather die.”

I didn’t care to listen to his response I needed to get away from here.

I sit at the edge of the cave with my toes dipped into the water that delves deeper into the ocean. I couldn’t help but admire the glow worms they mimicked the night sky. Who would have thought I would have missed something as small as that something that’s a given and often taken for granted?

Will I ever be able to go back home? What’s the point of staying here especially when it feels like I’m not wanted?

My breath hitched as I heard footsteps moving closer to me. I turned around to see

K'uk'ulkan was not dressed in his usual royal attire his eyes were soft as if they were calling out to me.

“ Adella.” His voice echoed bouncing off the cave walls. He gestured to the spot near me and I hesitantly nodded my head. He owns the cave after all who am I to deny him?

“ I want to apologize to you.” He cleared his throat and looked over at me, “I'm disgusted and disappointed by the behavior I exhibited hours ago. It wasn't right for me to curse at you much less raise my voice. I let jealousy blind me.”

“I-I'm just new to all of this. These emotions six days ago I was just a king looking after my people and keeping them safe then out of nowhere I get hit with this intense feeling towards you….that’s why I was trying to leave so quickly when you saved me… I didn’t like the feeling because it was unnatural to me unknown but how I acted back there is not how I was raised and I feel ashamed that the side even got out.”

He looked away but quickly pinned his eyes back on me.

“ And you were right about Namora. You are my partner now my wife In reina I should have believed you when you expressed how you felt. As for my cousin, she simply doesn’t do well towards people outside our tribe, and I’m not taking her side when I say this nor does it excuse her behavior but she just doesn’t know how to properly express herself.”

All of this could have been avoided if he had just talked to me and listened.

“And with that, I'm sorry In reina” I looked at him he didn’t have that stern look on his face he was extremely apologetic. Not that his words hadn’t expressed that.

“ I’m sorry too I also shouldn’t have cursed at you or said I would rather die that was a little bit extreme. I accept your apology as well…after having some time to cool down I realized I was just hurt by your actions and acted on emotions.”

He nodded his head and maintained eye contact. I looked down at my feet feeling intimidated by his gaze. “I just felt attacked. Attuma is the only person that talks to me. The women who come and bring me food and clothes just smile and don’t say a word. You're never around only when it’s important matters or to see how I was doing. When trying to talk to the girl I thought looked like a fun person to be friends with constantly looked down at me like I was chum it hurt.”

“ I wasn’t trying to come off as flirting in that conversation I had with him I simply wanted to know more about the people I would be spending my life with. And knowing that you guys haven’t been taken over by the Spanish made me wonder what are the differences and dating was the first thing that popped up.”

“My mother would be very disappointed in my actions and I’m deeply sorry for that not just because I know my mother would disapprove but because I misunderstood you.”

I looked up from my feet and our eyes met. I had him a soft smile. I laid back on the surprisingly warm rock and started up at the glow worms.

“Emotions are crazy,” I said. He chuckled softly and joined me in laying on the rock.

“Out of the five hundred years I’ve been alive not once have I met a woman that drives me crazy as much as you do.”

“If I were given the chance I wouldn’t have turned you right away. I would have courted you taught you my language showered you with your favorite fruit and jewels.”

“It's not too late for all those things. We might be married but we know nothing about each other.” He hummed agreeing with me well at least I think that’s what he was doing

“ You're right.” He got up and held his hand out for me to grab. I take it, “come on let me take you somewhere.”

He smiled at me and before I knew it we were in the water. You know that feeling you get when you get a strong gust of cool air that’s what I felt like being in the water again.

He smiled at me and gestured for me to follow him. I didn’t stall to see what was in store. This was the first time I actually had left the cave. I was excited to be anywhere but there.

“follow the current, don’t fight it.” He said shortly after I felt a rush of water push past me he grabbed my hand and nodded his head to reassure me that everything was okay.

I wasn’t used to this speed back on land. If you get caught in something like this it meant death but here it meant faster transport to wherever we were going. The feeling almost replicated what it was like going head first down a slide in those play areas they have at fast food restaurants.

But soon enough I was there.

“ welcome to Talokan.”

Previous Chapter Next Chapter

#namor fanfiction #Black panther #namor smut #namor X black OC

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thegreatestsandwich · 2 years ago

Note

Don’t think about Namor with a baby/toddler who gets scared when he has to go away to attend court or do other kingly duties, so they cry up a storm that can be heard across the halls, inconsolable. Don’t think about Namor trying to comfort his baby by telling them he’ll be back soon, only for their crying to start up again when he tries to leave and hand them off to another Talokanil. Don’t think about Namor deciding to take his baby with him and sitting them on his lap/knee, holding them with one arm while he’s on his throne, using his other hand to catch the toy his baby is playing with before it hits the ground after they accidentally drop it. (It’s his heir; he doesn’t want them to cry again and it’s good for them to listen in on court meetings to learn since they’ll have to do it one day) Don’t think about his child saying “daddy” in the Meso-American Mayan language as their first word, bringing everything to a halt as Namor is so happy they’ve said their first word he demands there be a celebration, his child’s smile and giggle ringing throughout the throne room and mixing with his own proud smile and laughter. Or do, and turn this into a cute little story. 🙂 Love your work! 💜

I’m just too soft for all of it (Namor x F!reader)

(Am I in love with him?)

Masterlist

Pairing: Namor x F!reader

Word count: 1.5k

Summary: A first word is worth a huge ass celebration.

Warning: Nothing really, well I really don’t think there is a warning, just fluff or my idea of fluff

A/N: My dude, when you left this beautiful thing on my inbox, my mind could only imagine this, I couldn't even think about anything else, God, whoever you are, thank you so much, I had so much fun writing this.

(My inbox is open guys! If you want to talk or even if you have this tiny little idea, or even if you just want to go crazy about this man, I am more than happy to recieve everything)

Coments, Reblogs and Asks are happily received!

You sat back comfortably against the wall, your baby girl silently playing with the many collars that your husband had gifted you within the months. At first, you worried every day about how your twins could adapt between two worlds, but the curious nature (something they definitely got from Namor) appease that fear. Your twins were wonderful, they often make you smile with their little actions.

As worried as you were for the future of your family, Namor manage to impress you beyond your imagination with his actions. He often spend hours every day to demonstrate his love for his family, trying so hard to make you smile. He assured you that he loved you for you, and the gift of parenthood only made his love increase. As long as he had you, he was happy. And you weren’t alone, the talokanils proved to you that they were as happy as Namor was with the arrival of your kids.

“Na'.” Mommy. Your baby girl tugged at your hand, making you smile at her. Her tiny hand tried to give you one of the collars. “For me, pretty girl?” You asked, grabbing the collar and putting it on. “Thank you, in chan pixan.” My little soul. “It is a wonderful gift. I love it with all my heart.” You kissed her forehead. “Let us go and see what your father and your brother are up to, yes?” You hold out your hands and your baby girl quickly hugged you.

You didn’t even have to walk further as your eyes watched with amusement how your tiny little toddler was following his dad without him noticing. Namor was collecting a few of his tools with huge concentration and your son was following every one of his actions, picking up imaginary things whenever his dad picked up something. You bit your lip hard, trying not to laugh at the view.

But you weren’t as sneaky as you thought, Namor turned to your direction, a huge smile formed on his face as he saw you standing there with his precious little daughter. “Ba'axten jach ki'imak a wool, in yakunaj?” Why are you so happy, my love? His hands gently putting his tools on the floor.

“Ah, ah, ah.” You shook your head, the smile still on your face. Your daughter trying to stick her hand on your mouth. “English, we are trying to make our children bilingual, remember? Your idea.”

Namor huffed, walking towards you, his hands quickly grabbing your waist, pulling you closer to his body, giving a quick kiss to his daughter’s cheek. She frowned at the action. “Are you doing well, in yakunaj? You woke up quite late this morning.”

“Well, I’m doing pretty good, this little baby manage to distract me from my duties all morning.” You smiled when your daughter laid her head on your shoulder, watching intently at Namor. “I noticed you are quite busy this morning as well.”

He nodded. “Yes, Attuma and Krang manage to finish one of the barriers as I ask, I have to go and look for any more improvements that can be done, perhaps today I come back later than usual and for once, my beautiful wife, do not stay late.”

You pouted. “You know I probably will ignore everything you say and still wait for your arrival.” Namor sighed, nodding along your words. “So you are going out?”

“Yes?” He looked at you weirdly. “I just told you that.”

“And you are recollecting the stuff you might need, yes?”

“…What is this interrogatory, in yakunaj?” Namor asked.

You smiled, your eyes looking behind him. “I was just wondering what were you going to do with the tiny shadow that decided to follow you this day.”

“Tiny shadow?” Namor turned around, he couldn’t help but smile as he watch his son try to pick every single one of his tools from the floor.

“Good luck today.” You whispered on his ear. “You will need it, Argos has been saving all his energy so, you might want to tired him out for a bit.”

“What?” Namor quickly turned to you. “I cannot bring him out to the barriers, it might me dangerous.”

You sighed, nodding. “Well, you could always leave him here with me, I’m planning to help the older women recollecting fruit, it might be hard with him crying but after a few hours, he will get tired.”

Namor frowned. “He cries when I leave him?”

You bit your lip. “Well, yes, he misses his yuum so much.” Daddy. You walked towards your son, gently kneeling in front of him. “Are you ready to spend a day with na’?” Mommy. Your son frowned, looking at Namor with his big dark eyes, his lower lip beginning to tremble.

“No!” Namor cleared his throat. “No, he can join me for today.”

You triumphantly smiled, standing up once again and walking to your husband. “As I said before, good luck, in yakunal.”

Namor sighed, he got closer to you, trying to kiss you but was stopped by his daughter, her tiny hand trying to push his face away from yours. “Are you not letting me kiss my wife?” She pushed him again. “Fine, you win this time, but I will kiss her eventually.”

You laughed.

Namor stared at the two warriors in front of him as he tried to keep the toddler on his arms occupied, he tried everything, from giving him his jewelry to letting him play with a part of his spear, he would be a dead man if he left him play with his knife.

As he was bouncing him on his leg, Attuma was telling him what other improvements they could make so they can still be hidden from the others. Namor would have prefer to see it with his own eyes but the idea to bring his child to the dangerous parts of the barriers stir something inside him. The protectiveness part of him even growl at the idea.

He nodded at the others words, completely absorbed at them, something his child didn’t like. He wanted the attention of his father. His tiny hand tugged at the necklace he was wearing, but the only thing he manage to get was the hand of his father carefully prying away from it. Argos frowned annoyed.

“Tuláakal yaan de acuerdo con a t'aano'ob, K’uk’ulkan.” Everything is going accord to your words, K’uk’ulkan. Attuma said as his eyes turned towards the child on his king's lap. The child was getting frustrated with the lack of attention he was getting.

Namor nodded in satisfaction. "Jaaj, láayli' yaan ya'ab meyaj tumen meentk, ba'ale' confío tu ka'atúul." Yes, there is still a lot of work to do, but I trust both of you with it. Namor gave his hand to his child when he tried to grab it on his own. "Yaan wáaj alguna noticia ti' Wakanda?" Are there any news of Wakanda?

Krang looked at his king, shaking his head. “Ma', táan u cumpliendo u t'aan.” No, they are keeping their word.

“Ma'alob, ma'alob.” Good, good. “K’a’abeta…” We should…

“Yuum!” His child scream in frustration when he was ignored once again. Namor looked at him with surprise, Attuma and Krang as well.

“U yáax t'aan.” His first word. Krang whispered.

Attuma gleefuly smiled. “Ah! Techo' bix u esperaba! Jump'éel príncipe Jach ma'alob ba'ax le!” Ah! Just as expected! Such a good prince he is!”

Namor smiled, standing up and hugging his child with force. “Lela' laaj jump'éel celebración!” This deserves a celebration! “Alerta le nojoch máako', K'a'abet k celebrar táaj Chich.” Alert the elders, we must celebrate as fast as possible.

“In reina?” Namora stood next to you as her eyes watched the others carried trails with huge amount of fruits. “Ba'ax le le celebración?” What is the celebration?

You smiled, noticing how your daughter raised her arms towards Namora, she looked at you, a silent question on her gaze. You nodded, handing her your toddler, who quickly began playing with the feathers of her outfit. “Ah, In wa'alike' u in waal finalmente tu ya'alaj yuum tin wíichan. U yáax t'aan.” I believe, my son has called said dad to my husband, his first word. “ Táan planeando jump'éel celebración ko'olelbil ti' le súutuko'.” He is planning a celebration in honor of that moment.

Namora turned slightly towards you frowning. Her hand gently pulling away the feather your daughter managed to snatch and eat. “Ts'o'ok ya'alaj teen u yáax t'aan, tu t'aanaj u yaalak' teech na'.” He has already said his first word, he called you mother.

You gently laughed, linking your arm with her free one. You silently shushed her. “Cha’ K’uk’ulkan yaantal le ba'ala, Namora'.” Let K’uk’ulkan have this, Namora.

#namor imagine #namor x reader #namor x you #namor x y/n #namor fic #namor fluff #namor fanfiction #mcu namor #kukulcan #k'uk'ulkan #namor of talokan #tenoch huerta #black panther wakanda forever #black panther #baby you are the love of my life

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sapphiewritesstuff · 2 years ago

Text

Dad-to-be Namor

Warnings: AFAB! reader, pregnancy, fluff, mood swings, labor, established relationship, not proofread

I have baby fever rn... damn ovulation.

Reblog and comment if you want a part two for Dad! Namor headcanons! also please don't let this flop I will delete my account (IM JOKING)

Dad-to-be Namor who lifts up your swelled stomach and smiles when he sees you relax

Dad-to-be Namor who hugs you from behind, giving you a kiss on your neck as he rubs your tummy

Dad-to-be Namor who has to 'say hello' to your baby whenever he sees you

Dad-to-be Namor who keeps you in his private hut, keeping you and baby safe from the cruel world

Dad-to-be Namor who adds your child to the mural he painted

Dad-to-be Namor who wishes to name his child after his mother if they are a girl

Dad-to-be Namor who kneels before you, kissing and resting his head on your belly, smile crossing his face when he feels them kick

Dad-to-be Namor who calms your worries, kissing you as he vows to keep his family safe

Dad-to-be Namor who excuses your mood swings, not getting mad at you when you snap at him

Dad-to-be Namor who never leaves your side as your due date draws near

Dad-to-be Namor who lets you hold onto his hand as tight as you want when you go into labor, whispering words of praise that calm you

Dad-to-be Namor who can't help but shed a tear when the realization hits him. Oh, gods, he's a father.

Dad-to-be Namor who pulls you into a tight embrace as your newborn rests on your chest

Dad-to-be Namor who can't wait to start this new journey with his family

#namor headcanon #namor x you #namor x reader #namor imagine

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imthataliensuperstar · 2 years ago

Note

I can see attuma only having multiples (as in twins, triplets, etc.). The thought of him having a daughter is so sweet. Imagining Attuma as a girl dad melts my heart.....OMG

i agree, i see attuma having twins , triples , etc. too! he would be so adorable with his babies and him having a daughter would make his heart so soft and he’d spoil his baby girl. he’d be so happy to introduce his kids to namor and namora 🥺

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motomamisbizcochito · 2 years ago

Text

Holding Back(Namor x Latina!OC)

Pairing: Namor/Maritza Stark

Rating: T for now but will go up to M in future chapters

Word Count: 10,027

Contains: Mentions of religion, superstitions, and spiritual cleansing

Summary: Maritza Stark had a strange encounter on the beach when she was seven during a family summer vacation in her mother’s hometown. The encounter became forgotten after her mother’s untimely death a few months later, her entire world spiraling out of control. As an adult she dismissed the encounter as a child’s overactive imagination. Years later when her father lands himself in a conflict with the king of an underwater kingdom, she starts to realize maybe she wasn’t as imaginative as she originally thought.

Author’s Note: The first fic I’ve ever posted on Tumblr🥳 This is a work in progress so there will be many future chapters. This is just the first of many. I loosely based it off the song ‘Holding Back’ by BANKS. I’ve been listening to her album Serpentina a lot while writing this. Really recommend listening to BANKS. I think she’s one of the most underrated artists. I will also be posting this fic on fanfiction.net and archive of our own. Sorry if the Spanish is bad in this chapter. I’m not entirely fluent and there’s also a spiritual cleansing mentioned in this chapter. I’ve never personally had one but I based it off a video of one I saw and the story my mom told me about the one she had when she was a little girl. Hope you enjoy the chapter!!!

Chapter One

2004

Punta Allen, Quintana Roo

Mexico

“God, could it be any fucking hotter,” Tony Stark grumbled as he and his longtime girlfriend walked along the shore of the seaside Mexican town. The same town his girlfriend originally hailed from. Years before she made it all the way to the US and years before she met him at a UCLA college party of all places.

“Stop your whining,” Yesenia told him as she rolled her eyes, walking arm in arm with Tony as she watched the waves roll along the sandy beach. “I know you hate being away from the lab, but you promised you’d participate in the family vacation.”

“I know I promised that but that was before I was sweating my ass off in Mexico,” Tony complained, and Yesenia knew her boyfriend was a big baby.

“Just try…if not for me then for Maritza,” Yesenia said, gesturing towards their seven-year-old daughter. Tony followed her gaze and he swallowed hard when he noticed their daughter collecting seashells on the sandy beach only to deposit them in her beach pail. “She needs normal family things like this. She needs normalcy period.”

“You’re right,” Tony admitted even though he still found the heat and humidity unbearable. He would much rather be in the lab back home, but he couldn’t deny this was nice. Quality family time. Unlike what he experienced during his own childhood. Not even his mother could manage to pull Tony’s father from the lab and Tony promised himself this would be different. His daughter would never have a childhood like his.

“Daddy, look at this one,” Maritza said, running up to Tony excitedly and showing off the seashell she just found. The little girl was a replica of her mother. The same brown skin, same smile, same nose, same eyes, and even the same laugh. Although she did get her dark brunette hair color from him. Tony already knew he’d probably have to play the overprotective dad part when she got into those dreaded teenaged years.

Something he wasn’t looking forward to.

“Oh wow…another shell,” Tony said, trying to sound impressed and Maritza pouted.

“It’s a conch shell,” Maritza said as if he should’ve known that. Tony nodded, recognizing the name and shape when she informed him of that.

“Right. The one where you can hear the ocean through it,” Tony said, and Maritza giggled.

“Silly. You can’t hear the ocean through the shell,” Maritza said, placing the shell in Tony’s hand and he looked down questioningly at the shell. “Air’s trapped inside because of the shape. You hear the air’s vibrations.”

“Huh…I didn’t know that,” Tony said before Maritza simply giggled before running back down the beach to find more shells. Tony glanced at Yesenia who just smiled.

“See? There are things not even the great Tony Stark knows,” Yesenia joked as she grinned at him and Tony scoffed. “She’s like you by the way. She just knows things.”

“Great. It means she’ll probably be a smart ass like me too,” Tony said with a joking tone, but it was clear that he was worried about her. She was already like him. More advanced than most kids her age. She was already at a seventh-grade reading level at the age of seven. Tony knew how isolating it could be being a Stark and being intellectually superior to kids your own age. It was very lonely. Tony had hoped that she wouldn’t be like him. That she would be a normal kid.

However, it was becoming obvious that wasn’t the case. She was like him. A true Stark.

In more ways than one.

“Good thing she’s way cuter than you,” Yesenia teased him, and Tony just rolled his eyes as they continued along the shore. Not noticing the pair of eyes that followed them from the ocean as the small family went along their way.

“I’d say she’s more like you. Interested in all that under the sea stuff,” Tony retorted, and Yesenia giggled. The young couple were oblivious to the pair of eyes as it would seem.

Maritza looked up and squinted her eyes as she thought she saw something in the distance. She hoped it was a dolphin. Maritza dreamed of seeing a dolphin, but she blinked a second later and whatever it was disappeared. She noticed some driftwood floating nearby and figured that the sun must’ve played a trick on her eyes.

The small girl went back to seashell hunting without further thought.

“There’s an old legend passed down from parent to child over many generations, you know. I told it to your mother and my mother spoke of it to me,” Maritza’s grandmother Palmira told her as she tucked the small girl in for bedtime. A tradition that always happened whenever Maritza and her parents visited her grandmother. Her grandmother would always tell her stories. “A cautionary tale.”

“What legend?” Maritza questioned, her curiosity getting the better of her as it always did. It seemed like Maritza was a little too like her father in that way. Her grandmother smiled at her only grandchild.

“The one of K’uk’ulkan,” Maritza’s grandmother told her, and Maritza furrowed her eyebrows at the sound of the strange name. “Which is what the Mayans, our ancestors, called him and the Aztecs called him Quetzalcoatl. The winged feathered serpent. A god to our ancestors but something else to everyone that ever lived here. He possesses many more names. Some not as kind.”

“He’s a snake?” Maritza asked in distaste. She hated snakes. Something about the way they slithered around creeped her out. “A giant snake? A giant flying snake? Abuela, that’s my worst nightmare.”

“He’s more man than snake,” Maritza’s grandmother said with a knowing look in her eyes. As if she knew this information firsthand.

“Who? Kuku?” Maritza questioned, completely butchering the name. Her grandmother smiled in amusement but shook her head.

“K’uk’ulkan,” She whispered but raised a finger to her lips. “But never speak his name too loud or you’ll summon him.”

“Why? Is he bad?” She questioned.

“He’s worshipped as a god in many parts of Mexico but it’s only in the small villages near the ocean that know the truth of K’uk’ulkan and his fury with those who live in the surface world,” Her grandmother told her, and Maritza was hooked on her every word. Her grandmother’s stories were always so interesting and different from the ‘Goodnight Moon’ type books her dad would read her before bedtime. “K’uk’ulkan lives at the bottom of the ocean. In his own kingdom. Every so often he’ll come to the shore to claim the lives of those of us who live on land as a ploy for vengeance. He and his people sing a song, luring the surface people into the ocean where they sink to their deaths.”

Maritza watched her grandmother with wide eyes.

“He is said to seduce beautiful women, luring them to their deaths as well,” Palmira listed off before meeting her granddaughter’s eyes. “And he even comes from the ocean to claim the lives of misbehaving children. He takes them to the bottom of the ocean with him. Only never to be seen again.”

“Yeah, right,” Maritza said, laughing nervously. “You’re just saying that to scare me. It’s the same thing as Mami and Daddy telling me to behave, or Santa won’t bring me any presents.”

“Believe what you want, Mi Nieta,” Palmira said before continuing. “But the legend of K’uk’ulkan is well known around here. He is to be respected but never acknowledged and you never want him to ever acknowledge you. Because once he sets his sights on you then that’s it. You’re destined for a cursed death. Never to escape K’uk’ulkan’s wrath.”

Maritza gulped fearfully and despite her logic, she was terrified of the tale her grandmother just told her. Terrified to think there was some monster that lived in the ocean just outside her grandmother’s house that would lure her to the ocean and drown her, not caring if she was just a child. A sea monster that liked killing people simply because he could.

“Yeah, but that’s only here. Right, Abuela?” Maritza asked hesitantly. “He wouldn’t be in Malibu, right?”

“The ocean is a big place, Maritza,” Her grandmother answered vaguely, and Maritza felt her heart hammering in her chest.

“Mami, you’re not telling Maritza about K’uk’ulkan, are you?” Yesenia questioned in disbelief as she leaned against the doorway. Tony raised his eyebrows questioningly as he joined Yesenia.

“Cuckoo who?” Tony questioned and Yesenia rolled her eyes.

“Not Cuckoo. K’uk’ulkan,” Yesenia elaborated as she tried to explain her mother’s superstitions to her very rational and very white boyfriend. “He’s a Mayan deity and a cautionary tale around these parts. Something parents tell their kids, so their kids behave. Like La Llorona or El Cucuy.”

“Daddy, Abuela said that he’s this monster that lives in the ocean and he hates people on land, so he lures them to the ocean and drowns them. Even kids like me,” Maritza rambled on, and Yesenia gave her mother an annoyed look. Tony just looked amused. “That once he sets his sights on you then you’ll never be seen again.”

“Mami!” Yesenia said in anger. “I can’t believe you told Maritza that. She’s going to have nightmares now. She’s going to regress. We finally got her to sleep in her own bed.”

“Don’t worry, Ritzy,” Tony told his daughter nonchalantly. “This Cuckoo guy would take you to the ocean for two seconds before you talked his ear off so much that he ended up sending you back.”

Maritza didn’t look very comforted by her father’s words and Yesenia smacked his shoulder. She didn’t find it very amusing that her mother probably traumatized their daughter into never sleeping again. Especially not with the ocean right outside the house. Yesenia remembered the nightmares she had as a child after her mother told her the stories about K’uk’ulkan. She couldn’t believe her mother did the same thing to Maritza.

“Mami, we’re having a serious conversation about this tomorrow morning,” Yesenia said seriously to her mother as her grandmother left Maritza’s side to join the other two adults leaving the room. Tony paused as Yesenia and her mother exited the small guest room.

“Daddy, don’t close the door,” Maritza begged and Tony smiled softly before nodding.

“I’ll leave the light on too,” He promised, and she returned his smile, grateful for that. Being enveloped in darkness right now wasn’t really what she wanted.

“Night, kiddo,” Tony told his daughter. “Don’t give that Cuckoo guy another thought. It’s not possible for anything like that to live in the ocean. You’re a smart girl. You know that. The scariest thing down there is a shark, and they definitely can’t walk on land.”

Maritza nodded, comforted by her father’s words of logic.

“I know,” Maritza said softly, feeling a lot better. “Thank you, Daddy.”

“Don’t mention it,” Tony told her. “Sleep tight.”

With that, her father left the room and Maritza listened to the patter of his footsteps down the hall. She nestled deeply into her covers. The heat was long gone at this time of night and now she just felt the cool ocean breeze.

He was right.

K’uk’uklan wasn’t real.

“Maritza…”

Maritza turned around in the darkness, but she didn’t see anything.

“Maritza…” The voice said again. It was a whisper that sounded both soft and aggressive at the same time. It chilled Maritza right to the bone. “Maritza, come here.”

“Who is it?” Maritza called out in the darkness. She didn’t know where she was or where her parents were.

“Maritza…” It hissed and Maritza’s jaw dropped as the voice finally revealed itself. Maritza looked on in horror as an enormous snake slithered out of the darkness. The girl trembled in fear as the creature lurked closer.

It was the worst thing Maritza could ever imagine. Scarier than any nightmare she had before. The creature’s eyes glowed red, its scales were withered, its feathered wings were stained with what looked like blood, and its sharp fangs gleamed under what little light remained in the room. It’s very appearance stroke so much fear into Maritza’s heart that she remained frozen to the spot.

“W-what do you want?” She stuttered, trying not to scream. The creature smirked at her, venom dripping from its fangs. “K’uk’ulkan.”

“Silly child,” he whispered to her. “Don’t you know you’re not supposed to say my name.”

Maritza whimpered as he came closer.

“What do you want?” She whined, unable to contain herself. Maritza felt that she was being toyed with. He was toying with her. He chuckled.

“A meal,” he said softly, and Maritza’s eyes widened in horror as he opened his mouth, displaying all his sharp teeth. Maritza screamed as she tried to move…to do anything to get away from the terrifying creature but it was useless. Her feet didn’t want to move.

She was stuck.

“Mami! Daddy!” She screamed in a ploy to get help. The creature just seemed amused.

“It’s useless. They’ll never hear you from down here,” he told her smugly. It was only then that Maritza noticed where she was.

It was alarming she hadn’t noticed it before.

Maritza gasped in surprise at the ocean floor beneath her. Air bubbles escaped her as she struggled to move through the water. K’uk’ulkan started laughing, his eyes glowing an even brighter red.

The gigantic sea creature then reared its head back as if it were getting prepared to strike.

Maritza shielded her eyes, blocking her view of K’uk’ulkan. The sight was too terrifying for her eyes to even comprehend.

“I’ll make it quick.”

K’uk’ulkan lurched forward and Maritza screamed.

“Maritza!” Yesenia exclaimed as she raced into the room followed by Tony and her mother. The small girl was a crying mess. “Maritza! What’s wrong, Mija? What’s wrong?”

“He was going to eat me, Mami!” Maritza cried, sobbing as her mother gathered her in her arms. The poor girl was trembling. Tony rested his hand on her back, looking concerned about his daughter.

“Who was going to eat you?” Tony asked with a furrowed brow. Maritza hiccupped before answering.

“K’uk’ulkan,” Maritza whispered, and Yesenia immediately sent her mother a heated glare. “He said he was going to eat me, and you guys wouldn’t hear me if I called for help because we were at the bottom of the ocean.”

“See?” Yesenia said in an accusatory tone. “I told you not to tell her about those silly K’uk’ulkan stories. Now she has nightmares.”

“I’m getting really tired of hearing about this Cuckoo guy,” Tony grumbled and both Yesenia and her mother glared at her.

“K’uk’ulkan.” They both corrected in unison before Yesenia’s mother glanced at her.

“These stories are told here. You know that,” the older woman said sternly. “It’s tradition.”

“Well, it’s not a tradition I want for Maritza,” Yesenia said seriously. “She’s not from here. She’s American. It’s different there. These superstitious tall tales were normal to me but they’re not normal to her.”

“I told her about K’uk’ulkan because she walks too close to the sea,” Palmira warned, giving her a serious look. “It’s not good for children to walk that close to the sea.”

“Because she’ll drown?” Tony questioned, not understanding her meaning. He rarely did. Tony didn’t know his girlfriend’s mother that well, but he knew her well enough to know that she didn’t like him. She didn’t favor the fact that Tony still hadn’t married Yesenia even after they had Maritza. She also didn’t like the fact that Tony was an atheist and made that very clear to him on a daily basis. “Palmira, we’d never let Maritza go down by the water by herself. She doesn’t go anywhere by herself. You know that.”

“She’s drawn to the water. She feels it’s pull,” Palmira was quick to say. “It’s not good. Not for here. People around here that are drawn to the water disappear. Especially women.”

“What?” Tony questioned incredulously. “You’re not actually saying you believe in this water guy, right? We’re all grown-ups here. We don’t believe in sea monsters.”

“Tony’s right, Mami,” Yesenia said, fixing her mother with a look. “K’uk’ulkan isn’t real. He’s a myth.”

“He might not be real to you in California, but he remains real here,” Palmira said, not backing down in her belief of K’uk’ulkan. Yesenia just shook her head.

“Whatever. Let’s just enjoy the rest of our vacation here and quality family time while putting this behind us,” Yesenia said, wanting to move on from K’uk’ulkan. “If I hear another mention of K’uk’ulkan then we’re going home. I’m serious, Mami.”

Her mother said nothing. Just remained silent in the doorway of the small room while her daughter glared at her, and Maritza remained trembling in Yesenia’s arms. Tony looked worriedly between the mother and daughter.

“Maritza, why don’t you sleep with Daddy and I tonight?” Yesenia said sweetly, as she rubbed her daughter’s back soothingly. “Does that sound nice?”

“I guess,” Maritza said in a small voice. Yesenia gave her daughter a small smile as Tony immediately picked her up from the bed.

“God, kid, you’re getting heavier and heavier,” Tony told her as he began to carry her from the bed. That seemed to get a small giggle out of Maritza. A good sign.

Palmira just watched her daughter and granddaughter leave the room, an unreadable expression on her face. Yesenia didn’t hide the glare she gave her mother as she walked by.

Palmira knew that Yesenia forgot where she came from.

That much was obvious.

Because K’uk’ulkan was nothing to be scoffed at. Not in this small seaside town. He was real. Frighteningly real to the town’s residents and everyone lived in fear of him and in fear of making him angry. Every time a storm hit the small town; the townspeople were scared if it was K’uk’ulkan letting his fury be known.

Or perhaps a warning.

A warning that he would lure more towards the sea to never be seen again.

K’uk’ulkan was never mentioned again during the Almanza-Stark family vacation. Even though Maritza continued to keep thinking about that nightmare and her grandmother’s story. Her interest in K’uk’ulkan had morphed from fear to curiosity. She wanted to ask her grandmother more questions about K’uk’ulkan but didn’t want to risk getting her grandmother in trouble with her mom so kept her questions to herself.

Still…she remained curious as she always gazed over at the ocean during family outings on the beach.

Her grandmother mentioned she was drawn to the sea and seemed concerned that made her more vulnerable to K’uk’ulkan. That people drawn to the sea were more likely to be his victims. She was seven but she wasn’t stupid. She knew there must’ve been some legend or story that made that certain quality a sign of being at the mercy of someone like K’uk’ulkan.

The seven-year-old had become quite obsessed with K’uk’ulkan. It had changed from being scared of the mythological sea monster to wanting to find him. Like he was a unicorn or bigfoot or even the Loch Ness monster. Maritza was determined to catch a glimpse of K’uk’ulkan.

Instead of searching the beach for seashells, Maritza now searched the beach for clues that might lead her to K’uk’ulkan. She was determined to find evidence of the mythological creature’s existence. Especially after seeing how serious her grandmother had been about the story. Like her grandmother was so certain that he existed. It was almost like her grandmother herself was afraid of him.

Her parents lounged on beach towels, soaking up the sun but Maritza was obsessed with finding clues. She didn’t know what she was looking for exactly. If he really was a feathered serpent, then perhaps he shed his skin like snakes did. Well, Maritza was really just basing her knowledge off that Harry Potter movie but still…

Maritza found a dead jellyfish that had been washed up along the shore and she found a couple discarded beer cans that were littered by tourists more than likely but not snake skin. It’s not as though it would leave footprints if it was a snake either.

Maritza was growing frustrated in her hunt for K’uk’ulkan.

“Mija, what are you looking for?!” Yesenia called out and Maritza didn’t even look up from the water. She was standing ankle deep in the water as she started moving rocks and seashells around with a piece of driftwood she found along the shore.

“K’uk’ulkan!” Maritza said nonchalantly as she continued combing through the sand for anything that indicated that K’uk’ulkan had been there.

“Are you kidding me?” Yesenia hissed under her breath as she narrowed her eyes suspiciously at her daughter who was poking at the sand with a stick. “This again? I’m going to have another talk with mom about-“

“Relax,” Tony said as he stopped Yesenia from getting up from the ground. Probably stopping her from running off to her mother for another argument. “Just leave her be.”

“Leave her be? Anthony…our daughter is currently hunting a non-existent sea monster that gave her a nightmare she woke up crying from the other night,” Yesenia said, angry at the situation. “I need to talk to my mother about this.”

“Does Maritza look scared?” Tony questioned, trying to stop another argument between Yesenia and Palmira. “She’s fine. This is healthy. She’s not scared of the Cuckoo snake thing anymore. Now she wants to hunt him and publish her discovery of a new species in National Geographic. This is how she’s overcoming her fear. Totally normal.”

“I don’t know,” Yesenia said, sounding unsure. Tony nodded.

“This is very normal. She’s an imaginative kid,” Tony reassured her. “Just be grateful she’s not building a robot like I was when I was her age. She’s a normal kid. Perfectly grounded. I’m seventy percent positive she’ll be a well-adjusted young woman someday.”

“Seventy percent sure?” Yesenia questioned and Tony shrugged,

“Well, she is a Stark, after all,” Tony said as if this was very factual stuff. “There’s never a hundred percent guarantee that anything will ever be alright.”

“I guess you’re right but she’s not from here like I am,” Yesenia explained, still looking concerned. “I grew up here. I’m used to all the superstitions and stories. I mean, I don’t really believe in them but at the same time I do. I’ve just always known how to separate urban legend from reality. It’s different for Maritza and you don’t believe in any of that stuff. Not a single part and I’ve never told her the stories my mother told me. She’s a sensitive child. I knew they would traumatize her and especially because I haven’t raised her in that culture. These stories could be very real to her.”

“You’re worrying too much,” Tony told her, and Yesenia knew he was right. She was worrying too much. It was just that coming back home was making her remember all the things she grew up with. Not something she really wanted for her daughter. To be scared to death of a mythological man who haunted the sea. “This is normal kid stuff. Hunting imaginary monsters. It’s good for her get out and enjoy some fresh air. We can’t really afford to do the same thing back home with all the media frenzy. This is good.”

Yesenia relented.

She realized he had a point.

They didn’t have the luxury of going out very often back home. Tony had gained the media’s interest in his younger and much wilder days. Not to mention he dated his fair share of pretty California girls. There was much public interest in his personal life which followed him when he started dating Yesenia Almanza. A young marine biology major at UCLA.

The attention magnified after it was discovered Yesenia was pregnant with a third-generation Stark. Potential genius and future heiress to Stark Industries. Tony and Yesenia had hoped the attention would die down, but Maritza was seven and it didn’t seem like the media attention was dying down any time soon. It wasn’t often they could leave the house and do normal family things.

“You’re right. I’m being crazy,” Yesenia confessed, and Tony shook his head.

“You’re not crazy. You’re protective. There’s a difference,” Tony comforted, and Yesenia rested her head against his shoulder.

“Thank you, Anthony,” Yesenia said, and Tony smiled, always hating being called that by anyone else but he loved the way his name sounded on her lips. “I hope you know you’re going to have a nasty sunburn in a couple hours because you forgot to put on your sunscreen.”

“What? No way,” Tony denied. He didn’t really bother with sunscreen between the smell and the dork he felt like whenever he wore it. “I feel fine. The sun feels nice on my skin.”

“Anthony, you’re so white,” Yesenia said, giggling as she looked at him. “You’re definitely going to burn. I’m going to spend the entire night rubbing aloe vera all over you.”

“Don’t threaten me with a good time, Almanza,” Tony quipped, and Yesenia just rolled her eyes before giggling again. Tony leaned over and stole a kiss. Yesenia happily kissed him back, running her hand through his hair. Usually at this point Maritza would make some exclamation about how gross they were but the small girl was too occupied with looking for K’uk’ulkan.

“Let’s let the kid wear herself out looking for Coco Puff and then we’ll work on giving her a little brother or sister tonight,” Tony joked, and Yesenia laughed again before smacking his shoulder. “What? She’d be so happy. She keeps whining about getting a little sister.”

“You’re awful,” Yesenia said although the smile didn’t fade from her face. Tony loved her smile. The way it lit up her whole entire face. Her dark eyes glimmered with warmth and somehow pulled him in further into her atmosphere. Tony wasn’t complaining.

“You love it.”

And she really did.

Maritza waited until it was dark and everyone in the small seaside house was asleep.

She knew they were asleep. The sound of her parents’ laughter died down just before midnight and she could hear her father’s snores from all the way down the hallway to her room. Maritza fought hard to stay awake, knowing the only way she was going to find K’uk’ulkan was if she went along the beach under the cover of darkness.

K’uk’ulkan obviously wasn’t going to appear in broad daylight. He was going to come out in the dark. Everyone knew that sea monsters only came out at night.

Maritza gathered her things.

Her K’uk’ulkan hunting materials. Hunting materials which included her mother’s dissection kit, a pack of crayons, a magnifying glass, and a disposable camera. Technically she wasn’t allowed to touch her mother’s dissection kit but if she found K’uk’ulkan then maybe her mother wouldn’t care.

Everything was stuffed into her Finding Nemo backpack. Her heart was racing with excitement. Her first adventure by herself…well, first adventure doing anything. Her parents rarely let her out of the house back home. The people with cameras were way too intrusive or, at least, that’s what she always heard her mother say to her father.

But there were no cameras here.

Everything was quiet.

Maritza crept through the house, butterfly net in hand as she tried to remain as quiet as possible. The only sound that could be heard was the sound of the ocean outside the small house. There was a moment when Maritza was convinced that her father woke up, but she merely heard him shift in his sleep before she heard more snoring.

She snuck out the door and she was free at last.

Maritza half expected her grandmother to catch her. Her grandmother who was always very sneaky, but it didn’t happen. Her grandmother didn’t show up and Maritza was outside in the dark with only the moonlight shining down through the darkness.

The air was still warm but there was a cool ocean breeze through her hair. It felt nice. A lot nicer than the severe heat felt throughout the day. Maritza admired how beautiful the ocean looked at night.

So calm and quiet.

Much different than during the day.

Maritza focused. She had to focus. She came outside to find K’uk’ulkan and she was determined to find him. Maybe not capture him because Maritza was grossed out by snakes, but she was going to catch a glimpse of him. Maritza refused to go back to the house without finding at least one clue that K’uk’ulkan left behind.

“If I were K’uk’ulkan where would I be?” Maritza asked herself as she walked along the beach, gripping her butterfly net tightly in her hands.

Maritza wasn’t sure how long she was out there looking for K’uk’ulkan clues. Maybe an hour. She just knew she was growing bored and tired looking for K’uk’ulkan in the dark. It was starting to seem no different than looking for him in the daytime.

She was close to starting to call his name in the dark even though her grandmother warned her not to say his name too loudly. Very close to giving up and calling for him to see what happened when something strange occurred.

Something very strange.

Maritza was near some palm trees that lined the beach. She was a distance away from the waves calmly caressing the sandy shores. Not just because her parents warned her not to go near the ocean without them but also because a part of her was still scared K’uk’ulkan would sneak up behind her and drag her into the ocean like her grandmother warned.

The strange thing occurring happened to be an individual coming out of the water.

Not just coming out of the water like a swimmer coming back up for air either.

Maritza witnessed a man come out of the water like he’d just gotten back from a nice, brisk walk. No gasp for air or any sign of exhaustion from swimming. He walked out of the water with far more grace than she had ever witnessed in her short life. Maritza’s eyes widened as she quickly dove behind a large piece of driftwood on the beach.

But like most times, her curiosity got the better of her.

She couldn’t refrain from not spying on the mysterious man who had come from the ocean.

Maritza peeked over the top of the driftwood to catch a better look at the strange man. It was a bit difficult to see through the dark, but the moonlight illuminated him well enough. She watched him with interest. She had never seen a man who looked like him before. Well, that wasn’t true. If she didn’t know better, then she’d say he looked like any one of the men she’d seen around town. His skin color just as dark as her mother and grandmother’s skin color if not darker.

That wasn’t what made him different.

It was the way he dressed. The way he carried himself. The man wore a pair of shorts. She would’ve said they were swim trunks, but they were embellished at the waistline with what looked like a gold belt. His chest was bare except for an extensive amount of beautiful jewelry that hung around his neck, capturing Maritza’s eye. What was even more curious to her was the large piercing through his nose.

Cool.

Maritza watched in awe because she had never seen anyone like him. He looked to be around her father’s age but wasn’t anything like her father or any man she had ever seen before.

Almost as though he sensed her eyes on him, he turned in her direction and Maritza’s eyes widened before she quickly ducked down. Praying that she hadn’t been seen.

Maybe he hadn’t seen her.

Maybe she was quick enough that he hadn’t caught her spying on him.

“I know you’re there,” his voice said. His accent was unlike any accent Maritza heard. Nothing like her mother and grandmother’s accent which proved to her that he wasn’t a local. “Show yourself.”

Maritza felt fearful.

What if this man told on her to her parents? Maritza would be in so much trouble. Her parents would never let her go outside again.

“Come now,” he said gently and though she couldn’t pinpoint his accent, his voice was strangely calming. Maritza was lulled from her hiding spot, and she immediately got up from her hiding spot to confront the strange man.

The man seemed almost surprised to see her.

As if he were expecting someone else. He chuckled at the sight of her, and Maritza felt almost offended.

“Shouldn’t you be in bed asleep, little one?” He asked her and Maritza nervously shifted her weight from one foot to the other. “I cannot imagine your parents would be pleased to find you out here at this time of night.”

“They’re asleep. They don’t know I’m out here,” Maritza didn’t know what compelled her to say that. She couldn’t describe the hold his gaze seemed to have on her. It was almost as if she was unable to stop herself from saying everything.

“And just what are you doing out here?” He asked and Maritza could tell he was amused by her. The same way her father was amused by her childish antics. She didn’t know why but she didn’t like it. It made her feel like he thought she was a joke.

“I’m looking for K’uk’ulkan,” Maritza said confidently, and the man looked her up and down for a moment, eyeing the butterfly net in her hands before breaking out into laughter. He acted like Maritza just told the funniest joke he’d ever heard.

“And what do you intend to do when you find him? Catch him with that net?” The man questioned and Maritza frowned. She was seven but she could tell when she was being made fun of. Mostly because her dad liked teasing her a lot and she could tell this man was doing something similar.

“Well, I don’t know…I haven’t planned that far ahead. I just want to see if he’s real,” Maritza elaborated, and he raised an eyebrow.

“Why do you have to know if he’s real?” The man asked her, sincerely curious. Maritza shrugged.

“Just because,” she answered, and he snorted.

“Just because?” He pressed and Maritza nodded.

“People act like he’s real, but he sounds too silly to be real, so I have to know if he’s real or not. I want proof,” Maritza explained, and the man nodded, crossing his arms as he spoke to her.

“Why do you need proof? Can’t you just accept that he’s real and move on?” He questioned and Maritza looked at him like he was crazy.

“No,” she said as if that were a dumb suggestion. “I need evidence. Daddy always says that you need to back up your hypothesis with evidence or else it will never hold up.”

The man took a step closer to Maritza and the small girl narrowed her eyes suspiciously.

“What if I told you I was K’uk’ulkan,” he told her, and Maritza shook her head.

“You’re not K’uk’ulkan. K’uk’ulkan is a magical flying snake,” Maritza said, sounding very sure of herself. “You’re a man.”

“You sound disappointed,” he observed, and Maritza took a step back. “I assure you that I’m not a snake.”

“All the books say that K’uk’ulkan is a serpent,” Maritza informed him, and he chuckled.

“Books can be wrong,” he retorted, and Maritza frowned because she didn’t understand that. To her, written words meant truth. If something was written on paper, then it must be true.

Right?

She never thought a book could be wrong.

“I don’t believe you’re K’uk’ulkan,” Maritza said stubbornly. She felt as if the man was playing a trick on her.

“What can I do to make you believe I’m K’uk’ulkan?” He asked calmly but the amusement still twinkled in his eyes. Maritza was stumped. It was only then she realized how little she knew of K’uk’ulkan. She was uncertain of any special traits other than the fact he was some sort of water serpent that flew.

“I don’t know,” Maritza confessed. He just smiled. He knelt down on one knee in front of her so he would match her height. Not that he was very tall. Maritza thought he was shorter than her father but still much taller than herself.

“Perhaps K’uk’ulkan has ears like these,” he said, and Maritza took a glimpse at his distinctly pointed ears. Ones that she hadn’t noticed before through the darkness. Elvish ears. She looked on in wonder. “And perhaps he has wings like these.”

He glanced down at the ground and Maritza followed his gaze, her eyes widening as she noticed the small fluttering wings seemingly attached to his ankles. Something she had never seen on a person before. Maritza was vaguely aware of something called birth defects, but she didn’t think these could be described as a birth defect. They were way too cool. Both his wings and ears.

“Cool,” Maritza said in awe. The look of amusement didn’t fade off his face. “Can you really fly with those wings? Do they work if they’re wet? Have you always had them? Were you born with them? How do your ears work? Do you hear better than most people?”

“You ask a lot of questions, little one,” he told her and Maritza gave him an impatient look. He didn’t answer a single one of her questions.

“Are you going to eat me?” She questioned bluntly and she was so blunt that it surprised the man…or K’uk’ulkan as Maritza was quickly discovering.

“What?” He questioned in surprise.

“My abuela told me that K’uk’ulkan eats children who misbehave,” she told him, and he chuckled. There was a look on his face that indicated that he knew something Maritza didn’t which bothered the small girl. She didn’t like not knowing things.

“And have you been misbehaving?” He asked her nonchalantly. Maritza looked slightly guilty.

“I snuck out of the house to look for you. I’m not allowed to go places by myself,” Maritza said honestly, and she hesitantly took a step back. He didn’t look like the type to eat children. K’uk’ulkan wasn’t scary looking at all. However, she knew that looks could also be deceiving and maybe he really did eat kids. K’uk’ulkan nodded.

“Well, since you’re being honest, I suppose I can forgive your misbehavior just this once,” K’uk’ulkan said, humoring the small child. “I also just had dinner so I’m not particularly hungry at this moment in time.”

“Thank you,” she said quietly, relieved that she wasn’t going to be eaten. K’uk’ulkan then gave her a serious look.

“Although you should not wander away from your parents,” he told her sincerely. “Not at this time of night. It’s not safe for someone your age to be wandering around the dark. You would do well to listen to your parents’ wishes.”

“Fine,” Maritza said although she didn’t seem happy about his advice. It’s not like she was going to argue with him. He was sparing her life by not eating her. She’d rather not push her luck. “Do you really live underwater?”

“The questions never end, do they?” He retorted, still amused by her nosiness.

Maritza was about to ask him another question when they were interrupted by the familiar voices of both her mother and father. She realized she must’ve been gone for a while. Her father was a restless sleeper and more than likely discovered her absence when he woke up as he did numerous times during the night.

“Maritza!” She heard her mother call out. “Maritza, where are you?”

Maritza was about to call out to her mother that she was fine. That she found K’uk’ulkan and all was right in the world when something stopped her before she could.

“Diablo!” Palmira Almanza exclaimed in horror. Maritza turned to see her grandmother standing a short distance away near the palm tree. Maritza looked at her grandmother in confusion, not understanding the terror on her face. “Diablo!”

“Abuela, I did it. I found K’uk’ulkan,” Maritza said excitedly as she tried to introduce her grandmother to her new friend. However, Maritza’s so-called new friend seemed unfazed by her grandmother’s name calling. He stared back at the elderly woman coldly before standing up from the ground. “He’s not a snake at all. He’s a person. See?”

“Aléjate de ella! No la toques!” Palmira started saying hysterically in Spanish. Maritza wasn’t well versed in her mother’s native language, so she didn’t quite understand what her grandmother was saying. Only that she was scared. “Tu maldad no puede tocar a alguien con un alma pura, Namor. No puedes quitarle su alma. Aléjate, Namor!”

“Mami! Tony went looking behind the house,” Yesenia called as she joined the three of them on the beach. “Have you found-“

Yesenia stopped midsentence as she saw the man standing in front of her daughter locked into a staring contest with her mother. Only it wasn’t just a man. Under the moonlight, Yesenia could make out his pointed ears and the wings attached to his ankles. The jewelry he wore around his neck also indicated to Yesenia just who he was.

She heard stories growing up. Especially in a town as small as the one she’d grown up in. In fact, Yesenia’s father, a now deceased fisherman, had once claimed to have seen K’uk’ulkan during a fishing trip. Yesenia had always dismissed her father’s story as another drunk tale of his but maybe her father wasn’t just some drunk telling tall tales.

Because K’uk’ulkan looked exactly as how her father described.

Exactly how many people around town had described him.

The few that had managed to capture glimpses of him over the years.

Yesenia was frozen to the spot as she stared at the being she previously thought was just an urban legend. She started feeling fear wash over her. All her mother’s stories coming to mind and just how close her daughter now stood to the man. Yesenia managed to gather her bearings enough to try to get her daughter away from him.

“Maritza!” Yesenia said, her eyes fearful. “Maritza, get over here. Now!”

“But Mami…I found K’uk’ulkan,” Maritza started to say, and Yesenia was growing more terrified by the second. Terrified that K’uk’ulkan would take her daughter into the ocean with him and she would never see her again…or Namor as some liked to call him.

“Maritza, get over here now!” Yesenia snapped and K’uk’ulkan broke his staring contest with Palmira to gaze down at Maritza. His gaze softened as he looked at her, reminded of the small children in his own kingdom. Children who were much too curious for their own good.

“I would go to your mother, my child,” he told her softly. Maritza nodded slowly.

“Okay,” she said, sounding disappointed. She still had more questions for him, after all. “Bye, K’uk’ulkan.”

“Goodbye,” he told her. Palmira continued to glare him down as Maritza returned to her mother’s side. Yesenia quickly grabbed on to her daughter and held tightly on to her as though she were afraid K’uk’ulkan would come back over and steal her.

“Mantente alejado!” Palmira hissed at him. “Mantente alejado, Namor! No te acerques a la chica! Malvado! Malvado!”

Yesenia continued to stare wide eyed at him, nearly trembling in her place. It was the equivalent of finding out the bogeyman was real. For so long, he was a thing of stories that her mother used to tell her but now he was real.

K’uk’ulkan acted as though Maritza’s grandmother wasn’t screaming at him. It was the strangest thing. He ignored her as he simply headed back to the water. Maritza watched curiously as he waded back into the water, her mother clutching her to her side tightly.

He was waist deep before he turned to the three generations of Almanza women. K’uk’ulkan locked eyes with Yesenia. Maritza heard her mother gasp.

“You should keep a better eye on your daughter…her father being who he is. A lot of people would want to hurt her,” K’uk’ulkan told Yesenia in a grave tone. “I don’t wish to see Tony Stark here again. He’s a risk. Your mother will tell you what happens when there’s a risk to my people.”

With that, K’uk’ulkan turned his back to the three of them wading further into the water until he was fully submerged. Maritza was disappointed when he disappeared from sight. There was so much more she wanted to ask him.

Yesenia and Palmira remained frozen to the spot. Neither of them moving as they stared at the quiet and calm waves flow back and forth along the beach.

“Why were you mad at K’uk’ulkan, Abuela? He was really nice,” Maritza questioned, breaking the silence. That seemed to snap her mother out of her state of shock. Yesenia immediately glared at her daughter.

“Maritza, what have I told you about talking to strangers?!” Her mother snapped and Maritza’s eyes widened in fear. She realized she was more than likely in trouble. Her mother was furious. Maritza didn’t think she had ever seen her mother look so furious. “And leaving the house by yourself? What if something happened to you…well, something did happen.”

“I just wanted to find K’uk’ulkan,” Maritza said quietly. “And I did find him. I don’t know why you and Abuela were being so rude to him. He was nice to me.”

“K’uk’ulkan is not nice,” Her mother told her sternly. “He’s evil. You heard the stories your grandmother told you.”

“You said those weren’t true,” Maritza argued, and her mother shook her head.

“Well, they are true. K’uk’ulkan hates people who live on land and takes them with him to the bottom of the ocean any chance he can get,” Yesenia told her daughter, trying to get her point across. “He’s evil, Maritza. To see him is a curse.”

“Daddy said there’s no such thing as good and evil,” Maritza retorted, and Yesenia huffed.

“Evil exists here and it exists in that water,” Yesenia said, and Maritza was confused. She didn’t know why her mother and grandmother seemed so terrified of K’uk’ulkan. He didn’t do anything to her. He didn’t eat her, attack her, or lure her into the ocean with him. She had the feeling K’uk’ulkan had been teasing her, but he hadn’t seemed evil to her…just normal. Aside from his ears and wings.

“Daddy’s not going to believe I actually found K’uk’ulkan,” Maritza said, oblivious to her mother and grandmother’s fear of the man that just disappeared into the water. “I can’t wait to tell him.”

“No!” Palmira said sharply, breaking out of her stunned stage. “You must not tell your father.”

“Abuela’s right,” Yesenia said before locking eyes with her daughter. The seriousness in her gaze was enough to capture Maritza’s attention. “You can’t tell your dad.”

“Why not?” Maritza questioned and Yesenia swallowed hard. She could see the fear in her mother’s eyes, and she wasn’t sure how to feel about seeing her mother so scared.

“He wouldn’t understand,” Yesenia said softly. “K’uk’ulkan doesn’t like people talking about him, Maritza. It’s why people from this town don’t speak of him outside of it.”

“But he’s amazing. People should know-“ Maritza started to say but her mother stopped her. The look in her eyes made Maritza freeze. Her mother looked so scared. It unnerved the small girl.

“Promise me that you won’t speak of this ever again,” Yesenia pleaded with her. “Not to your father and not to anyone back home. This is serious, Maritza. No one must know. You don’t know how dangerous it was for us to see him. It’s not good, Maritza. It’s bad. Very bad.”

“Mami, I-“ Maritza tried to interject but her mother wasn’t having it.

“Promise me,” Yesenia said, eyes filled with tears and her mother was right. Maritza didn’t understand her mother’s fear of the man she just met. “He’s not a good man. He’s not even a man.”

“Evil,” Palmira added, caressing her cross pendant. She looked equally as terrified as Maritza’s mother. “Evil. We’re all cursed.”

“Mami…” Yesenia hissed, glaring at her mother before returning her gaze to Maritza. “Maritza, please promise to not speak of this again. For me.”

Normally Maritza would refuse. Her mother often said she inherited her father’s stubborn streak. Yet the look in her mother’s eyes made Maritza feel scared. It was terrifying to see your parent terrified. Someone Maritza had always viewed as a protector and above things like fear.

Maritza swallowed hard.

“Yes,” Maritza said quietly, and her mother raised her eyebrows.

“Yes, what?” She pressed and Maritza sighed before continuing.

“Yes, I won’t speak of K’uk’ulkan ever again. Not even to daddy and not to anyone back home,” Maritza promised, and Yesenia was satisfied with her answer, leaning forward and wrapping her arms around her daughter. She was just happy that Maritza was safe and away from danger. Yesenia could not describe how terrifying it was to see her daughter standing so close to a creature she had heard terrifying stories about.

“Don’t ever do that to me again, okay?” Yesenia whispered as she held her daughter tightly. She didn’t know what she would’ve done if K’uk’ulkan had taken Maritza with him into the ocean. There were stories of that happening before. Yesenia never really believed in K’uk’ulkan. Not since she was a little girl, but he became real the second she saw Maritza standing so close to him.

He was no longer a thing of tall tales and legends.

He was real.

“You’re going to be grounded for a very long time,” Tony told his daughter as they packed their things the next day. Yesenia demanded that they leave at once. She was spooked after their encounter with K’uk’ulkan…or Namor as others called him. Tony didn’t know why she wanted to leave so suddenly but figured she must’ve gotten into another argument with her mother. It was no secret that the mother and daughter duo didn’t get along very well.

“That means no video games, no Legos, no TV, and no ice cream,” Tony lectured her which was out of character for him. Usually, it was Yesenia who was the disciplinarian but Yesenia had been strangely silent ever since the sight before after returning to the house with her mother and Maritza.

“No ice cream?” Maritza whined, not liking the sound of that. Tony nodded.

“Yes, well you should’ve thought of that before you went out alone last night looking for the chicken man,” Tony told her sternly and Maritza grew quiet again at the mention of K’uk’ulkan. She normally would’ve corrected him about the name, but her mother had scared her into never mentioning the pointy eared man she saw the night before. Her mother paused in packing the clothes at the mention of K’uk’ulkan. Or Namor as her mother and grandmother insisted on calling him now during the hushed whispers, she heard on the way back to the house from the beach.

“When’s the flight?” Yesenia asked quietly and Tony turned his gaze away from his daughter to look at his girlfriend.

“Eleven…” Tony told her, not knowing why she was acting off. He couldn’t really explain it, but she was unusually quiet and not her bubbly self. “But the plane leaves anytime we want. We could leave sooner if you want.”

“Okay. We’ll leave sooner then,” Yesenia said decidedly before leaving the room to go retrieve their items from the bathroom. Tony stared after her for a second before shrugging it off and returning his attention to Maritza.

“Don’t ever do that again,” Tony told her seriously. Her father was not a serious man, but she could tell he was serious this time. He was usually quite humorous. Amused more often than not but it was clear she had scared him. “You don’t know the area well and there’s dangerous people out there. Not to mention the fact that you could’ve drowned. You’re not the strongest swimmer, Ritzy.”

“I know, Daddy,” Maritza said quietly, looking quite ashamed of herself. She was ashamed because she went looking for K’uk’ulkan and now her mother was so spooked that they were leaving Mexico sooner rather than later. Maritza liked it here. It was quiet, sunny, and her father didn’t have a lab to lock himself away in. It was so much different than home. “I’m sorry I left. I won’t do it again.”

“Good,” he told her as he zipped up his suitcase. “You really terrified your mom. I’ve never seen her like this before. Now go grab your stuff from the guest room. Your mom really wants to leave soon.”

“Okay,” she said obediently before trotting off to her room to do as her father instructed.

Maritza passed by the bathroom as she was leaving. She noticed her mother hunched over the sink, eyes squeezed closed and fingers gripping a rosary tightly in her hand. Vague whispers came from her mother’s mouth. Maritza recognized enough Spanish to know her mother was saying some sort of prayer.

It spooked Maritza.

Maritza had never seen her mother like that before. She never really thought of her mother as religious, and her father definitely wasn’t religious at all. Maritza knew her grandmother was but never her mother.

Maritza quickly moved past the bathroom and headed to the guest room. The sight of her mother lost in prayer somehow more terrifying than the encounter the night before.

She didn’t understand it.

Why her mother and grandmother were so scared. Yes, K’uk’ulkan was different but there was nothing scary about him. No fangs, claws, or horns. He was just different and what was so scary about that? Maritza wasn’t even sure if he really ate children like the legends said. Not that she knew what someone who ate children looked like, but it definitely wasn’t K’uk’ulkan.

They acted like he was evil…but he didn’t seem evil.

He seemed normal.

“Maritza,” Maritza’s grandmother said as she walked into the guest room, breaking Maritza out of her thoughts. Palmira closed the door behind herself quietly. Maritza glanced up at her. “I need to give you something before you leave.”

“What is it, Abuela?” Maritza asked curiously as her grandmother sat next to her on the bed. Her grandmother grabbed her hand and placed something cold and metallic in it. Maritza glanced down.

“This was my grandmother’s,” Palmira said, and it was a silver cross pendant with a blue gem in the center. “She gave it to me when I was your age and now, I’m giving it to you.”

“It’s so pretty. Especially this,” Maritza said, admiring the blue gem in the middle.

“It’s aquamarine,” Her grandmother informed her. “There used to be an old legend that said aquamarine was taken from the treasure of mermaids to protect sailors from the sea. It’s also said to protect the wearer from evil spirits and demons.”

Maritza knew this was about K’uk’ulkan. She wanted to tell her grandmother that he wasn’t evil, and everything was fine, but she knew her grandmother and mother didn’t believe that.

“My grandmother grew up in a different time in this small town,” Her grandmother explained, a faraway look in her eyes. “A time when the men of this town started hunting the creature from the sea. The one who made boats vanish. The creature they called Namor. There were those that thought of him as a god…K’uk’ulkan but my grandmother only knew him as the devil. A lot of those men disappeared as a result. Including my great-grandfather.”

Palmira swallowed hard before locking eyes with her granddaughter. Maritza was so young and innocent that she couldn’t understand the gravity of what occurred the night before.

“Promise me that you will wear this necklace and never take it off,” Palmira told her seriously. “I fear that you’re cursed now that you’ve come face to face with the devil. The necklace may be your only protection from him.”

“But-“ Maritza started to say but her grandmother cut her off with a stern look.

“Promise me, Maritza,” Her grandmother demanded, and Maritza sighed before relenting. She nodded and her grandmother took the necklace from her hand, immediately putting it on her. Maritza obeyed her grandmother without another word. “Never take it off. There are not many that have seen the devil of the sea and lived. Your ancestors didn’t.”

“I promise I won’t take it off,” Maritza said honestly and her grandmother seemed satisfied with that. She glanced down at the necklace, examining the pendant. It was beautiful but Maritza was left even more confused about why it was needed.

Some sort of protection against someone her grandmother was convinced was the devil.

Was K’uk’ulkan really the devil?

Maritza felt like a person would know if they came face to face with the devil, but she honestly didn’t know. She pictured something red with horns and a tail to be the devil. Something cartoonish and terrifying but that wasn’t K’uk’ulkan. He didn’t look like how she pictured the devil to look like.

If anything, she was more confused than before. Maritza had come face to face with something her mother and grandmother were convinced was evil. She just wasn’t sure.

But her mother was.

A couple days after they returned to California, and Maritza’s father was back in the lab, her mother drove her to an old building almost two hours away. Her mother told her it was called a Botánica. Some sort of store that was different than any store that Maritza had ever seen before. Filled with candles, herbs, and statues of saints. It was some sort of cross between Diagon Alley and the Vatican.

Her mother didn’t explain much to her but the older woman at the front of the store led them to the back to a room that was dark except for an abundance of lit candles and incense. It had been very terrifying, and the woman instructed Maritza to shut her eyes then proceeded to say what sounded like a prayer in Spanish as she rubbed water into Maritza’s skin while Maritza’s mother watched quietly, clutching her rosary tightly in her hand. Water that was mixed with herbs as Maritza’s skin had a very odd scent afterwards. A scent that would be forever etched into Maritza’s mind.

It was a spiritual cleansing which Maritza found out years later as she described the memory to a friend of hers who’s parents were from Honduras.

The cleansing went on for a short while, but it might’ve as well have been years. Maritza remembered being terrified as the woman spoke in hurried Spanish and harshly rubbed the herbal water into her skin before running some sort of broom over her body. It ended with one last prayer and with seven-year-old Maritza with her tear-stained cheeks as her mother led her out of Botánica.

Her mother didn’t say anything on the drive back.

They both sat in silence in the car for the long car ride home.

With the cleansing, the topic of K’uk’ulkan was put to rest and never to be mentioned or referred to again. With time, Maritza would rationalize the encounter with the pointy eared man from the sea with wings on his ankles as not real. Just the exaggerative imagination of an only child which Maritza was.

The encounter became forgotten, anyways.

A few months after the summer spent in her mother’s native country, her mother died. An unexpected, tragic death that sent the small Stark family reeling and left Maritza without a mother. The time spent in Mexico became only a highlight for the summer spent as a family having fun before everything went to shit and the Starks’ entire world was turned upside down.

The necklace and cleansing had been intended to put K’uk’ulkan to rest. Yesenia’s death buried the matter entirely. Yet some things had a way of coming back to the surface.

Even if they were seemingly forgotten.

Translations:

Diablo(Devil)

Aléjate de ella! No la toques!(Get away from her! Don’t touch her!)

Tu maldad no puede tocar a alguien con un alma pura, Namor. No puedes quitarle su alma. Aléjate, Namor. (Your wickedness cannot touch someone with a pure soul, Namor. You can’t take away her soul. Get away, Namor.)

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