Chapter 46: Acceptance

Eren walked around the palace, looking around for Shuri or T'Challa to ask them about the whereabouts of his family. Eventually, he found T'Challa, walking around in his normal clothes. Immediately upon their gazes meeting, T'Challa smiled, waving off the Dora Milaje women behind him and approaching Eren.

"Eren, good morning my friend. You look as if you are searching for something." T'Challa seemed to be reading Eren like a book, as everyone seemed to be as of late.

"Uh, yeah, actually. I was going to ask if my mother had any family left. If so, I wanted to see about meeting them. If possible." Eren asked shyly. He was nervous still, despite having his talk with Ben Grimm.

"I do not have the answer for you right now, however, how about we go find that out now? Come." T'Challa began to walk away before speaking to who appeared the leader of the Dora Milaje women. Like the rest, her head was bald, but her red uniform seemed more decorated and her face appeared more stern. "Okoye, leave us. I will catch up soon enough."

"Yes, my king." Okoye said, bowing her head before slamming her pike on the ground and chanting to the Dora Milaje behind her. She then marched away with the Dora Milaje women and disappeared down the hallway.

Meanwhile, T'Challa and Eren walked down the halls together, making some small talk before finding themselves in what appeared to be some sort of advanced library. The books seemed to also be made of foreign material, unlike any book Eren had ever seen, raising a specific question by Eren.

"Is everything here Vibranium?" Eren asked, looking at the futuristic, sci-fi-looking bookshelves.

"Everything is Vibranium in our nation. Our tools, our weapons, and even the clothes on our backs are threaded with Vibranium. It is the Wakandan people's lifeblood. Like guns for you Americans." T'Challa answered with a cheeky grin.

"I think your image of America might be a little... exaggerated, but I see." As Eren spoke, the two ended up in front of a terminal at the center of the library. T'Challa activated it, triggering a holographic screen to form before he began typing away. "Manyano N'dungane..." He whispered to himself, bringing up Eren's mother's entire family history.

Eren couldn't read it, but he could read T'Challa's expression. It wasn't good.

"I'm sorry... they've already passed, Eren." T'Challa told him sadly, immediately causing the boy's nervous, yet excited expression and body language to shift. His shoulders dropped, as did his gaze which then looked to the floor.

"There is, however, another way. If you are interested. You can speak to your mother too." T'Challa told him.

Eren's eyebrows raised, as did his shoulders upon hearing those words. "What!? How!? Eren asked frantically.

"The Ancestral Plane." T'Challa answered. "It is our afterlife. For Wakandans, the followers of Bast. We are capable of sending ourselves there while we still live, but only if you are strong enough to take the journey."

"I want to try it. I don't care how tough the journey is." Eren told the king with a determined gaze, one telling the king all he needed to know.

"Alright. Come." With only those words, T'Challa led Eren through the palace once more, this time into the deepest depths of it.

Once they reached the bottom, the two found themselves inside some sort of garden, one filled with hundreds of Heart-Shaped Herbs being tended to by servants. Upon entry, everyone around the two men bowed, causing Eren to feel a bit out of place next to the king.

Eventually, the two approached a small, rectangular box filled with brown sand. T'Challa stopped in front of it, looking to one of the garden keepers before instructing them with his orders. "Bring me a single herb." He told the gardener, prompting her to swiftly approach an herb and pluck it before hand delivering it to him.

"Thank you." T'Challa told her. She bowed in response, giving the two men some space. T'Challa looked at Eren with an intense gaze, staring straight into his eyes and losing that smile that was almost always on his face. "This is a Heart-Shaped Herb. Once consumed, you will die, but only for a brief moment. However, there are only two ways for that moment I mentioned to not be permanent. You must be of royal blood or be a worthy warrior."

"And if I'm neither, I die for good?" Eren asked, swallowing his nervousness as T'Challa stared him down.

"Yes. I believe you are worthy, my friend. But do you? That is what is most important." T'Challa asked, still looking at Eren with the same intense stare.

"I believe I am a worthy warrior. I'll do anything to speak with her one last time, even if it does kill me." Eren answered. He truly believed his own words, and they were undisputably truthful.

"Okay." T'Challa then looked around at everyone in the garden. "Begin the ritual!" He instructed them, before telling Eren what to do next. "Strip down to your undergarments and lay in the sand."

Eren, doing as he was told, removed his clothes and laid down inside the rectangular box of sand. As he did this, the servants began crushing the herb using a mortar and pestle before surrounding the young hero.

His heart was racing as he thought about how these could very well be his last days on Earth, however, he was simultaneously confident that he was in fact worthy. 'I am Wakandan by blood and I have fought many battles. I am worthy.' He thought to himself.

"Are you ready, Eren Parker?" T'Challa asked.

"Yes." Eren answered, hesitating before asking one last thing. "Will I also gain powers?"

"You may or may not. Perhaps it will enhance the ones you already have. You are the first human with superpowers to consume the herb." T'Challa answered to the best of his ability.

"Okay. Then I am ready." As those words left Eren's mouth, one of the women approached his head and hovered a bowl over his face.

"Place your arms like this." T'Challa instructed the boy, placing his arms in a cross formation across his chest. Eren repeated the Wakandan nation's salute as his heart continued to race frantically.

'I am worthy.' He thought to himself.

"Shut your eyes." The woman said gently before pouring the herb into his mouth. It was the consistency of a smoothie, having some bits of the herb still floating around in it, while also being smooth.

'I am worthy.'

The young hero swallowed, immediately feeling his body react. He couldn't tell if it were pain or pleasure, but he knew that his body and his mind were changing. As he drifted out of consciousness, the servants began covering his body and face with the sand until he was no longer visible.

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'I am worthy.'

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.

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Eren opened his eyes, finding himself standing at the center of his old childhood home. He looked around and at his own body, seeing that he was in a smaller body than his current one. 'I'm a child.? This is just like those Godspeed visions I have. I wonder if my visions have anything to do with my Wakandan blood.'

Eren looked up, finding himself surrounded by multiple people, people he didn't recognize, all wearing their Wakandan garbs. He then felt a hand on his shoulder, the touch of a person he hadn't felt in a long time.

It was his mother.

Immediately, Eren hugged his mother, crying into her waist upon finally seeing her again. Slowly, Eren began to grow up before his mother's eyes, surpassing her in height before eventually towering over her with his true body. He opened his eyes before looking down at his mother tearfully, showing her just how much he'd changed in such a short amount of time.

His mother placed her hands on his cheeks, taking a good look at the face she hadn't seen in so long. "My son..." She said softly, this time speaking in her natural, Wakandan accent, surprising the boy. "I knew one day you would come."

"I'm so sorry, Mom." Eren told her as tears continued to flow from his face.

"Why are you apologizing to me?" His mother asked him.

"I could've been there. I could've saved you." He told her, revealing his true feelings about the incident to her.

"Eren, there's no way you could have possibly known what was going to happen. My passing was no one's fault but my own. Please, don't blame yourself for that." His mother looked at him sadly, never having known that the boy was blaming himself the entire time.

"I'm sorry, Eren. I lied to you about who I am, about who we are. I lied about my work and where I was. I'm sorry for leaving you by yourself." She apologized, bringing tears to her own eyes.

"It's okay, Mom. I understand why you did it. King T'Challa told me everything."

Eren's mother smiled, looking up at her son once again before telling him the words that he longed to hear from her once again. "I'm so proud of you, Eren. I'm proud of Spider-Man too." Her saying this was surprising, but also, it made him feel joyful.

"How do you know about that stuff?" Eren asked her.

"I've been able to watch you, Eren. I've seen you grow up to become a man and a hero. Not just me, but all of us. We are so proud of you, Eren." Her saying this triggered Eren to remember that they were not alone in the room. Eren looked around at his relatives, all of the varying ages, all smiling at the boy.

"We are all so proud of you." One of his ancestors, an older man, told him as he patted him on his shoulder before hugging the young man. "Your mother told me a lot about you, I have longed to meet you, Grandson." His grandfather told him, overwhelming Eren with emotion.

"You have grown to be a strong warrior. You may not have been born in the homeland, but you are a true Wakandan." Eren's grandfather's words brought more tears to his eyes. He didn't think he would ever be accepted by them since he was only a half-blood, but he was thankfully wrong.

"My husband is right. You make us all proud, Umzukulu (Grandchild in Xhosa)." His grandmother told him, embracing the boy tightly from the side.

"We are from the Merchant Tribe, Umtshana (Nephew in Xhosa). We are not fighters. That is why we are all so very proud to see you protect your home, as well as coming back to protect ours. Sister always told me you were a good-hearted kid, she was right." Eren's Uncle said, who appeared to be barely any older than him, meaning he must've died rather young.

The benevolent words of his relatives gave Eren a warm feeling inside of himself. However, there was one thing that bothered him. "Where's Dad?" Eren asked his mother, though her reaction told him everything he needed to know.

"It's because he isn't Wakandan, right? He's somewhere else..." Eren said sadly.

Eren's mother approached him once last time, placing her hand softly on his cheek before giving him her final words. "Like us, I know your father is watching you and is just as proud as we are. Your father wanted more than anything to save people. He didn't have powers, so he wanted to create something that could save everyone. Little did he know, he already did. You are your father's greatest creation." Eren's mother smiled at him, understanding that the time for them to chat was almost over.

"I love you, Nyana (Son in Xhosa), my son. Farewell." She told him softly.

"I love you too, Mom. I will continue to make you and our ancestors proud." As those words left Eren's mouth, the boy found himself waking up with a coughing fit, rising up from the sandbox.

He looked around, seeing that he was back in the real world, surrounded by the servants and T'Challa. The king smiled, patting Eren on the back as the boy continued to cough. "Welcome back, my friend. How was it? Did you meet them?"

"I- (cough) I did." Eren said in a choked-up voice. "I saw them all..."

Eren could feel the tears in his eyes flowing down his face as they did in the Ancestral Plane. He had finally been able to speak to his mother one last time, he was finally able to say goodbye. On top of that, he was accepted by his family, despite not being a full Wakandan.

Though it was short-lived, that small interaction with his family would motivate Eren, more than he ever had.

They were watching him, proudly, and he was going to continue to make it so.

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