Tumgik
#namor x filipino reader
rokuhoku · 1 year
Text
a piece of your history.
Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media
Pairing: Namor x Filipino!Reader
Rating: Mature, Comedy (No smut but there is tension)
Summary: It hurts to not be able to properly recreate your traditional pre-colonial Filipino clothing, and Namor takes notice of this feeling of yours.
Word Count: 2,578
Content Warning: Mentions of colonialization
Disclaimer: Namor is kind of cold and dark towards reader!! Idk if its ooc but i would imagine that he would generally be apprehensive towards a surface dweller. you have been warned
___________
Reminder: This fic is part of a Namor x Filipino!Reader miniseries, but can be read on its own! Miniseries fic(s):
a piece of your history. / "beloved."
__________
“Do you like it?”
You asked, grinning, slightly turning yourself around in order to fully show off your work proudly.
Namor hummed, sitting in the water by the shore of the beach. He was always like this, meeting up with you now and again. 
“Is this the wear of your people?” He asked. You grinned and nodded, letting out small chuckles while fiddling with the fabric between your fingers. You had always wanted to make the Pre-Colonial traditional clothing of your Filipino ancestors, it was the closest thing you had of home as of now. 
The process was tedious, you admit that. So little resources or references online on how your specific region’s clothing looked– much less how it was made, due to how much the Spaniards burned and banned, but you had still managed to gather enough to make one as accurately as possible.
“It’s… beautiful.” He simply says, eyeing up the clothes and how it wrapped around your body, causing you to tear your eyes away from him in fear of showing how his compliment affected you in such a way. 
“Why have your people stopped wearing this? Are they not your traditional wear?” Namor asked, remembering the photos of your family that you had shown him. They were wearing what you had called a “baro’t saya” and “barong” for the celebration of “Buwan ng Wika” as he recalled it.
“It’s gorgeous, and made by the hands of your people instead of the colonizers.” He continued, “It escapes me on why your people have abandoned wearing your traditional garbs, instead choosing to wear what they gave you.” This statement slightly irked you, causing you to deadpan at him.
“Dude, we were enslaved and tortured by them for more than 300 years.” You crossed your arms. “Do you think we abandoned it willingly?” You were met with silence, and for once, Namor was the one who was left speechless by bluntness.
“... Right. My apologies.” Was all Namor could reply, causing you to let out a small laugh, shaking your head. It’s not often you’re the one leaving him silent, with him often bashing “surface dwellers”, causing you to regularly remind him that you yourself are a surface dweller. 
Namor never had a proper reply for that.
However, even if you were happy with your work, you still frowned and sighed. You dragged your fingers along the cloth, wistfully looking at its patterns. Namor’s eyes followed the way your face curled up to a grimace, causing him to frown even more (if that was even possible) in confusion. 
“It’s not much, though. The fabric’s sorta cheap ‘cause it was the only one I could find that had this specific pattern. I had to pick between comfortability or accuracy.” You sulked, sitting down on the dry sand close to him. You hugged your knees close to your chest, already itchy from the scratchy inside of the fabric.
“I chose accuracy, of course… for them.” You vaguely finished, slightly bitter on how hard it was to make your country’s real traditional clothing in an authentic way. You palmed the sand, looking for your bag before taking out your trusty cellphone. 
Ah, surface dwellers and their hand-held yet fragile technologies… Namor thought as you typed and scrolled away at your phone. 
“I mean, look at this!” You held your phone out, showing what appeared to be a real life replica of your garbs, just made in a better way. Namor narrowed his eyes in confusion. 
“So your people still make this?” 
“Well technically yes, but no? God, I wish, though. This is just a historical costume for entertainment…” You replied, huffing. 
“Tangina talaga ng Espanya…” You grumbled under your breath. Namor chuckled at you, as he had heard you swear in your mother tongue (he was sure it was a swear– it was literally the first word you had taught him) at one of your country’s past colonizers.
“Jay, ba'ax jaaj le je'elo'...” He replied, agreeing, though this did cause your face to slightly feel warmer. You would never admit it to his face, but him speaking his native language was kinda hot.
You let out a small chuckle, before wistfully sighing and looking at the sky. 
“You know… I’m kinda jealous of you and your people of Talokan.” Namor rose an eyebrow at you, his head turning to look at you. You put your hands up in mock defense, clearly meaning well.
“I don’t mean it in a bad way! And yeah, you guys have faced struggles with water pollution, junk and also colonizer stuff… It’s just… y’know…” You trailed off, suddenly feeling bashful. Namor’s gaze softened, as he nodded to indicate that you continue. You breathed in deeply.
“Well, I mean, you guys got to keep your culture intact, no outside forces ripping it away from you.” You mumbled, picking at the sand that got between your nails.
“No forgotten gods… no forgotten stories… no forgotten practices.” You longingly looked at the sea.
You snorted, though. “Even if they tried, you could still put up a fight and protect it.” You smiled at him, causing him to avert his gaze and look back at the ocean.
“I just… I just wish I could salvage at least a small part of it.” You finished, already feeling your throat close up and tears form in your eyes. God, why did you have to be so emotional? Putangina naman… 
For a beat or two, Namor stayed quiet. You already felt dread setting in your stomach, oh god. What if he had another diva moment and dove back in the water? Before you could panic even more, you heard the water move, as water droplets seem to fall from sky and onto you. You looked up in confusion, squinting your eyes at Namor, who had stood up from his place to sit closer to you.
“... May I see more of these garbs?” 
Your frown was replaced with a smile, as you swallowed back the lump and blinked away the oncoming tears. “Sure! I have so many saved and printed– it’s important to have references before crafting, after all!” 
Your signature grin was back as you happily took out what looked to be a plastic bag containing pictures that looked similar to your clothes. You happily explained away, showing him more and more photos– though he did notice that you had backed up a bit when he came a bit too close to your personal space. 
He followed along as you showed more and more photos– along with more pictures of Pre-Colonial jewelry that you wanted to replicate yourself. He noticed the way you would stop and longingly gaze at them, before continuing on with explaining.
Namor watched the way your eyes would brighten as you talked more and more about your history, before they would dim as you brought up on why it was not used by your people in the modern day anymore. 
“... And yeah, that’s pretty much what my own region wears! Though, it does get a bit tricky to see if it really is my region per say,” Namor looked at you, a bit confused but waiting for you to continue. Your smile grew wider. 
“All regions basically have a lot of similarities and differences! So sometimes it gets a bit confusing.” You rambled, before noticing yourself and getting a bit embarrassed. Namor softly smiled at you. 
“This just shows how rich the cultures of your people are, in etail.” 
You blinked before letting out a joyous laugh, surprised that Namor of all people complimented you! (Well, to be more precise, your heritage). You were about to reply before your eyes caught sight of the time on your phone. “Ay gago! Ang late na pala! I still have to call my parents!” You put on your coat over your work, before shoving your phone back in your bag. 
Before you could properly stand up, a hand on your wrist stopped you. Your brain loaded for a few seconds, your eyes following the hand and how it trailed back to Namor. “Come back here in two days time.” He asked (more of demanded).
You gawked at him, this was the first time he ever confirmed that you were going to see him! Most of the time, he simply came and went as he pleased. The look in his eyes already made it impossible to say no, so of course refusing him was not an option. 
“I-I…” You stammered, meeting his eyes that had so much emotion in them. You gulped. “Okay! See you in… two days, dude!” You quickly went on your way home.
Namor nodded at you, before he caught sight of the familiar plastic ziplock you had left behind. Before he could call out to you, you were already too far away, and if he were to approach you someone would surely see him.  
Namor watched your back fade from the distance, already confirming the idea forming in his head. He nodded to himself, before grabbing the ziplock bag and diving back into the sea, making sure to not let anything get wet. 
__________
You practically ran towards the beach as you grinned, excited that your.. Friend(?) or Frenemy(?) personally requested your presence. You cleared your throat and attempted to act cool, though severely failing, before sitting down by the drier parts of the sand, admiring how beautiful the waves looked. 
A few moments later, a familiar head peeped out from the water, causing you to laugh and wave at him. Namor uncharacteristically bore a grin at you, continuing to get out of water, the droplets from his hair magically disappearing with each step.
“I have a surprise for you.” was the first thing he said as he offered you a hand in getting up. You nodded, though a bit confused now. 
In his hands, you had finally taken notice of a makeshift waterproof bag tied by a drawstring along with a familiar plastic ziplock of papers. “Ay, onga pala! I accidentally left my papers…” You exclaimed, surprised that he kept them in such good condition.
Namor gingerly handed you the drawstring bag first, urging you to open it. “Please, have a look inside.” You hesitantly took it in your hands, noting the way the fabric practically had gold woven into it.
What you saw took your breath away, 
it was Pre-Colonial indigenous Filipino clothes.
You ran a hand through them, the fabric being silky yet cool to the touch. Just as how Filipino clothes were theorized to be. Somehow, Namor had found a way to wove it with gold, just as what your research had said. You felt tears well up in the corner of your eyes, it felt like a piece of history was being given back to you. 
 “Well? What are you waiting for?” Namor’s voice snapped you out of your stupor. You looked back at him, open-mouthed and too shocked to reply. He chuckled at you. “Try it on, in etail.”
Namor politely turned around, silently trying to hide and bury the way he felt when he heard fabric shifting and the likely assumption of you undressing. 
Your breath hitched as the feeling of the fabric against your skin was a comfortable one. It was perfectly tailored and made for you, as if someone had memorized every inch of your body down to the smallest details, the robes fitting like a glove on your body. 
“You can look now…” You managed to practically croak out, forever feeling thankful at such a kind gesture from no one other than Namor himself. 
The moment Namor turned around, he swore that he felt slightly lightheaded from how you managed to take his breath away with just your look. You looked like you were in your natural element, your most natural state.
It almost felt as if this was how you were supposed to be. 
The way the gold-woven fabric hung off your own copper skin had him thinking of thoughts he swore he would never have of surface-dwellers, and perhaps the most euphoric feeling was seeing the look on your face; the genuine joy and happiness. 
But wait, something was missing. 
He narrowed his eyes at you before rummaging through the bag he carried with him. Namor gently brought out familiar looking jewelry, though with its own twist.
“These… are also for you.”
Namor took your hand and placed it in his, slipping on a rather detailed and delicately made golden ring. He took both of your wrists and placed on them gold bracelets adorned with what appeared to be a jade material.
All the while, he made direct eye contact with you. You practically shook under his gaze, deeming it to be too intimate. 
Before you could process anything more, you felt the heat of Namor’s body behind your back, as you heard gold clinking together. His hot breath fanned on the back of your neck, as the heat in your ears never seemed to go away. 
You felt a heavy weighted necklace be placed onto your collarbone, before a click behind you was resounded. Namor’s hands lingered for a split second on the nape of your neck, before he practically ripped himself away and stood back, afraid of his own actions.
Your breath left your body for what felt like the nth time in the past 30 minutes, as you took the necklace between your fingers and observed the intricate designs of gold and jade beautifully fused together. 
All of this jewelry should have felt heavy, but to you they felt as if they were perfectly crafted and made for you and your people. It was as if these were all made with heavy and careful detail, making sure that they perfectly aligned with your own practices but still with its own twist and charm from the gifter.
You could never take back what the Spaniards have taken from your country, but it felt like a lost piece of your own heritage was being directly gifted to you, you could practically feel the pride of your ancestors. This was all so overwhelming. 
“K'uk'ulkan…” 
Namor suppressed the heat he felt as his natural name rolled off your tongue in such a breathless manner. 
Now, it was your turn to surprise as he did not anticipate that you would tackle him in a hug. You buried your face in his neck, not scared anymore of what he’d do. Namor’s own hands hesitantly placed themselves on your backside, before they tightened around you.
“Salamat… Salamat talaga, K'uk'ulkan…” Namor felt hot wet tears drip onto his shoulder. 
He hugged back even tighter.
“Mixba’al, in etail.” 
__________
BONUS:
“Okay, now ‘putangina mo’ means I like you.” You said to Namor, though the way you tried to (and failed) to hold back your laughter made him doubt that that was the meaning of the phrase.
“Is it really now?” You laughed, nodding profusely. “Hell yeah it is! We Pinoys use it all the time to compliment each other! Like, ‘putangina mo tol, ang guwapo mo nakakabakla ka na!’ ”
“ ‘Nakakabakla’?” Namor narrowed his eyes at you. Were you just messing with him? You laughed even more, clutching your sides by how much it hurt.
“Gaga, uto-uto ka talaga.”
Namor had a deep feeling in his stomach that you were insulting him (he was right) so he stood up and sighed, walking back towards the sea.
“What the-! Hey! Where are you going?!”
“K'a' ak'ate.”
“Aw c’mon K'uk'ulkan! Can’t you take a joke?!”
He was already gone by the time you had said that.
661 notes · View notes
nellycanwrite · 1 year
Text
Imagine Namor and Filipino!Diwata!Reader in pre-colonial Philippines with a hint of Ibong Adarna (Adarna Bird)
Context for my non Filipino readers: a Diwata is a mythical being in Filipino folklore; often described as a lesser god, a nature spirit or a fairy. They guard natural features, most usually forests.
Ibong Adarna is a Filipino epic that tells the tale of an ailing king who sent his three sons to capture a magical bird that can cure any illness with its song. The king declared that whoever captures the bird will inherit the throne.
Namor has heard stories of a magical bird that can heal any sort of ailments with its song. His mother would also tell him this tale when he was still a child. He has searched far and wide through the years after his mother's passing, hoping to bring back this mythical creature for his people—so they will never experience any sort of illness as long as he has possession of the bird.
Namor would land on an island in the Pacific, untouched by the hands of the conquistadors that have started to scour through the lands and enslaved the natives. They were scared of this island, he had heard, for there was a greater being that guarded it. A Diwata, the natives called you. A fairy, an enchantress, guardian spirit of the island.
He would hear the most beautiful voice when he passed through this island, paired with the chirping of the most exquisite bird he had ever seen. Its feathers sparkled under the bright sun, the colors reminiscent to a rainbow during a summer shower.
Then he will see you—the most gorgeous thing he would lay his eyes upon. Your legs dangled by the precipice, fauna growing by your waist as you sang the hymns of nature in your mother tongue. Other animals would gather around you as well, tiny deer mice, the occasional mischievous monkey, a flock of sparrows, and any other land dwelling creature that would so hear you and rest by the cliff side near the sea.
Most notably, though, was the mythical bird perched by your side, preening its feathers whilst you sang. It would chirp occasionally in response to you. He could already feel his tired wings relax with its song.
Imagine him approaching you ever so slowly, his wings bringing him up to level himself in front of you.
But you would stare at him quizzically, cocking your head to the side.
You would glance at the Ibong Adarna by your side, its mystical eyes also staring at this strange man. It would then continue to preen its feathers, but the song that it once sung now silent.
You would blink and stare at the man again, only this time you were more wary.
Before Namor could say anything, a strong gush of wind would temporarily blind him. When he opened his eyes again, you nor the Ibong Adarna could be seen. The animals would retreat back and leave him alone by the cliffside.
He thought you were a figment his imagination. But a rainbow feather from the mythical bird was enough evidence for him that he had seen you; that you were real.
And he would come again and again just to see you; for the sea longs for the songs of the land and dreams to finally touch his waters to your roots.
And thus the story of how the sea fell in love with the land began.
141 notes · View notes
ironemrys · 1 year
Text
Finders Keepers | Namor x Filipino!Reader
Summary: Namor x Filipino!Reader. That's it. That's the plot... kind of.
Word count: 5k
Warnings: Listen, this is for pure entertainment only. Don't take it too seriously- I sure didn't. I had fun writing this tbh. First ever Marvel fic I post on this website and it's this type of crap. Enjoy- or not. 
Italicized words are: 1.The Reader's/OC's thoughts and/or 2.Words that are supposed to be in a different language. P.S. I tried to use a Yucatec Mayan - English translator but decided against it last minute since I feared I would not do it any justice so I just opted to italicize when they're (Namor and the Talokanil) are using it to talk. Words in parenthesis are the translated Tagalog words. Sometimes they're loose translations because you can't just translate some terms from our language to English- let's just leave it at that. It's the thought that counts- I guess.
Also posted on AO3
It's not a good thing when you wake up in a strange place, surrounded by strange people. For our protagonist though, that's exactly what happened.
Where the fuck- 
Always a good start. As soon as she opened her eyes and blinked, trying to get rid of the haze in her mind, she looks around.
Someone speaks in a language foreign to her and she turns to the side before her eyes widen-
She stares. She sees the mouth of the person- person? Is it a person? Why were they colored blue? Who are they even? Where was she? Is she dreaming? Is she dead?
The person in front of her keeps talking but she can't understand a single thing. Besides, her brain cells weren't working at the moment. Everything seemed different, she can't seem to focus.
Finally, whoever it was that was failing miserably to get through to her stopped talking and left the room. That's when she noticed that she was sitting on a small cot, inside a tent? Maybe. She doesn't know. She's not sure.
She tries to remember the last thing her brain could before she woke up in this strange place.
She was on a vacation trip for the summer. She went to visit her late grandmother's hometown in the province of Siquijor. 
On the second day, she decided to take a boat and go over to Apo Island. It was a strangely cloudy day; a perfect time to go for a swim. She had snorkeling gear with her but no life vest. She didn't bother since she promised herself she wouldn't go that far. Besides, she's never drowned before. She can float if anything were to happen.
She was joyfully admiring the corals, the starfish, and the sea urchins. Fish of different kinds started to swim around and she followed them. Saying hi and hello, waving to the fishes as if they could understand her dumbass.
She kept following the school of fishes, unaware that she was getting farther and farther from the shore- that is until she sees a deep fucking abyss. 
"Ay puta!" Fuck! A garbled curse escapes from her lips as she raises her head from the water due to panic. The chasm was deep as all hell. It was dark and wide as if it would swallow her whole if she didn't swim away.
She tried to swim away. Emphasis on tried.
She lifted her body in an attempt to float and she would've. She would've been safe if not for the sudden cramp on her leg- the muscle twisted and it sent her body to a standstill.
Then darkness.
A voice spoke and cut her off her thoughts. She looked up in alarm and her eyes widened once again at the tall, handsome, yet weirdly looking guy in front of her.
He spoke again in a language she doesn't know. His brown eyes locked onto hers and it didn't seem like he was threatening her by the tone of his voice but his brows were furrowed and his lips were in a deep scowl. 
When she didn't answer, he called for someone outside of the tent. A woman and another man; taller and broader, entered. But again, for some unknown reason; they were both blue-skinned.
However, that aside, this is when the genius(?) protagonist noticed that one doesn't look like the others. His skin was tanned as opposed to the other two. He had pointy ears and a huge piercing on his nose. He was adorned in jewels and the other two were fully clothed while he was only in- 
Ay jusko lord. (Oh my god)
She averted her eyes and looked down at his feet only to notice the wings. She blinked once, twice, thrice- 
What the- 
She stared, again, her brain trying to process things but can't. Someone send help.
Teka. Nasan ba ko? The fuck. Sino tong mga to? Bat may pakpak ung paa niya, ano to cosplay? (Wait. Where am I? The fuck. Who are these people? Why does he have wings on his feet, is this cosplay?) 
"Ah- Ano-" Uhm- she starts to speak and the others turn to her. The woman then talks to her in a slightly commanding tone but it's still in a different language so she can't understand jack shit. 
When she still didn't answer, it was obvious that her host, or whoever they were, was starting to get a little frustrated with her uncooperative state. 
She could hear them talking to each other in the foreign language again and when she finally had her wits about her, she raised her hand.
"Uhm- Excuse me-" 
The three strangers stopped and turned. The man with pointy ears walked over to her in wide strides that she unconsciously leaned on the wall as a defense mechanism.
"You speak English?" He then asks in a low, deep grumble.
She raised her brow at him, "Yes? Of course, I speak English, I've been colonized." Weird that she answered that way but it was already done, so whatever.
Her snap seemed to surprise those in the room but at this point, she was too confused to care.
She looked around once more, "Wait, so where the hell am I? And who are you?" She asked him. 
It took a few moments before she was answered by the pointy-eared man, "I have many names-" he started, "My people call me K'uk'ulkan."
Clearly, the name didn't register in her brain because she tilted her head in confusion. He moves closer, right in front of her face in an attempt to intimidate her but she could only register the handsomeness of his features which confused her a little. Here she was, in an unknown place, with unknown people and that's what she notices. 
"But my enemies call me Namor." He finishes and waits for her to react.
She scrunched up her nose, "Can I just call you Namor because that first name is so hard for me to say." 
This amused him, she thinks, since his lips curved upward a little. 
"Where am I?" She finally asks and Namor leans back slightly, 
"You are in my kingdom." He answers and it again prompts her to raise a brow,
"Apo Island has a kingdom?" She asked and this time it was him who looks at her incredulously. He wonders for a bit before leaning down again near her face and she backs away.
"Child, where do you think you are right now?"
Di ba kasasabi niya lang na nasa lugar niya daw kami, labo naman neto. (Didn't he just say we were in his kingdom? He's confusing.)
"You said we were in your kingdom. I'm pretty sure-" 
"The location, child." He insists and she thinks for a bit, wondering what he could gain from knowing the answer.
"Apo Island, Philippines." 
There was silence. The man and woman behind Namor looked at each other and this didn't go amiss by her. They looked more puzzled than she was.
"What?" She asked, a sudden panic started to rise in her chest for some reason.
"You're in my kingdom. In the Atlantic Ocean." 
"Ha?" She gave him a look that says 'are you fucking kidding me?' but then her expression changed.
From giving them an incredulous look to showing them a tired one, she sighs.
"What?" Namor questions and takes a step back when she suddenly stands up.
"Ha? Hatdog." 
The three strangers looked at each other and she rolled her eyes, "I get it. This is a prank, right? Who are you really? Ano to, skit?" (Is this a skit?) 
"Kala niyo ba maiisahan niyo ko? Asa ka boy. Kaya pala naka-cosplay ka ee." She adds and raises a brow.
(You think you can trick me? You wish, boy. No wonder you're in some kind of cosplay.)
"What are you talking about?" The other woman asked with a disapproving look, "And how dare you call him a boy-" 
"English, child." Namor cuts the other off and commands the stranger but she scoffs, rolling her eyes in the process. 
"English mo mukha mo. And anong child? Gago twenty-something na ko." (English your face. And what child? Asshole, I'm twenty-something already.)
Her voice was defiant as she suddenly glared at Namor. This surprised him a little so he wasn't able to answer her. Obviously, no one has ever addressed him in such a manner before.
She thought she had him, "So ano ka? Crossover ni King Triton at Legolas? Sali sana ako kung parang tourism eme to kaso lokal lang ako mamsir." (So what are you? A crossover of King Triton and Legolas? I would've joined if this was something for tourism but I'm local.)
She started walking towards the closed drapes of the tent and she saw out of the corner of her eye that the taller man and the woman were about to stop her but Namor raised his hand to stop them instead.
"Let her go. Let her see." 
As soon as she stepped foot out of the tent, her eyes went wide, "What. The. F-"
The place was unlike anything she's ever seen. It was beautiful but that was the least of her problems right now. Suddenly, an uncomfortable feeling set itself in her stomach. 
Shit nasan ba talaga ako? What if di to prank? Tangina, ano ko na-kidnap? Gago aanuhin nila ko, wala naman ako pera. Shit uso pa ba ung human trafficking- (Shit where am I, really? What if it's not a prank? Motherfucker, was I kidnapped? Fuck what are they gonna do, I don't have any money. Shit, is human trafficking still a thing?)
"You are not where you thought you are." Namor cut off her rambling in her head and she whirled around in alarm, looking at him with fear in her eyes.
Now it has registered in her brain that she's in so much deeper shit than she thought. She backed away from him instinctively- before she ran.
"Hey!" The taller man had yelled after her but before he could chase her down, the woman said with a smirk, "Let her. She has nowhere to go." 
Meanwhile, the lost and confused protagonist of this story, well- maybe, no one knows yet if she is a protagonist. But for now, let's say she is-
Anyway, she ran. To where? She has no clue. She just had to get away from the strangers. She looked around and realized she was in a cave.
"San na ung exit?!" (Where's the exit?!) She yelled and it echoed against the walls. She covers her mouth and crouches on instinct before peeking to the side, checking if she was being followed. When there were no signs of an attack, she breathed out in relief. She thinks she's safe- she's not.
"Okay. Okay." She breathed in, trying to calm herself down, "Kung nasa kweba ako, malamang sa bandang dulo dito ung exit."  (If I was in a cave, then the exit should be at the far end.) She said to herself as if she actually knew what she was doing. She doesn't.
She started to crabwalk to wherever the hell she thinks the exit should be. She thinks she's being quiet and clever. Again, she's not.
"Where the fuck is the exit?!" She whispers, annoyed. She got to the end of the cave but all she saw was a body of water, like a small pond. There was no exit.
What if?
Nasa loob ba ko ng secret beach? De, di secret beach, parang secret beach, ung kelangan mo lumusot para makadating sa kabilang side. (Am I inside a secret beach? No, not a secret beach, but like a secret beach, where you gotta swim under to get to the other side.) 
Her conclusion seemed to make sense to her but there was one problem: she's not a good swimmer. She's never drowned before, granted, but still, she's not a good swimmer.
"Okay." She said to herself, "Options-"
Counting down with her fingers, she started to think, "Option One: Lalangoy ako pailalim to escape." (Option One: I swim under to escape.) She looks at the 'pond', it looks deep as shit.
"Option Two: Pakamatay na lang tayo dito agad bes, kesa kung ano pa gawin nila sayo. Jusko lord I'd rather die talaga." (Option Two: Let me just kill myself here, rather than finding out what they'd do to me. Jesus Christ I'd literally rather die.)
She continues to talk with herself, "Baka naman di ganon kalalim? Mukha lang? Siguro? Pucha naman talaga, oo."  (Maybe it's not that deep. Only looks like it? Maybe? Fucking really.) She's panicking. And when she panics, bad things happen.
"Okay, try natin, baka naman-" (Okay, let's try, maybe-) She walked towards the pond, dipping her feet into the water to test the temperature. There was a voice in her head saying "Hoe don't do it." but she ignored it. She was panicking, her brain cells were gone.
She sinks into the pond quickly and opens her eyes. It was harder to see without the goggles but the water was surprisingly clear as soon as she dove in. She looks around and sees a light and this brings a bit of hope to her heart.
But, as mentioned, she's not a good swimmer. She's not good at holding her breath either. She was halfway through the cave, the light still a few ways away from her when she felt herself start to lose air.
Panic. Panic. Panic.
She tried to swim up but she hadn't realized that the deeper she went into the body of water, the cave closed in on her.
Panic. More panic. She's going to die.
Option Two then. She thinks to herself before she takes a huge gulp of water. She has accepted her fate. Death to the stranger. The end. Her eyes closed and she fell deeper into the water-
Until she wasn't.
She coughed out the water on solid ground. She was on all fours, trying to catch her breath when she felt a firm grip on her arm. She turned to see Namor, looking at her disapprovingly.
"You are foolish." He starts with a frown, "There is no escape from here for a surface-dweller like you without our help."
"What-" She coughs roughly, she still can't breathe properly. Her eyes widened when she realized what was happening- she was having an asthma attack.
She wheezed and clutched her chest before falling to her side. She could hear Namor talking- or yelling- she's not sure. Her eyes started to water. She's trying to catch her breath so desperately when she feels something cover her mouth.
Suddenly she can breathe a little easier.
"Breathe," She could finally register what Namor was saying. Her vision started to focus and when she calmed, she looked down at the device on her face.
She started to inspect it, turning it here and there suspiciously.
"An inhaler?" She asked, "Looks like one of those things you use with a nebulizer." 
Her asthmatic ass aside, her situation still hasn't improved. This reality settled again in her thoughts and she looked abruptly at Namor who was just watching- observing.
"Okay. Uh-" She started, standing up rather slowly. She was looking at him like he was some wild animal she had to be careful around.
Well, she's not wrong.
"Uhm okay, Namor," She swallows her fear, 
"SIR-" She continued with her hands raised in front of her chest, palm outward as if to calm him, to surrender to him.
"I don't know what you want from me. I'm nobody. If this is a kidnapping then I can assure you-" 
Namor raises a brow but before he could interrupt her, she continued on her tangent, "I have no money. I'm alone. I don't have anything and if you're planning on selling my body parts then-" 
"What-"
"I'm asthmatic. I have GERD- well, maybe, I don't know, I haven't had that checked yet." She stops to think, "I also have PCOS, I swear no one will buy me from you so-" 
"I have nothing to give you." She stops and it took a few minutes before-
"Follow me," Namor instructs and she tenses, backing away from him a little.
"Come here." He repeated, more commanding. But when he saw the panic in her eyes and the way she closed her hand in a tight fist, he changed his tone, "I will take you to where I found you, so follow me." 
"What do you mean: found me?" She asked, slowly and carefully walking closer to him. She was still wary of him but for now, she has no choice but to trust him.
Namor turned to her a little, "I found you in the water close to our border. I sensed a disturbance in the waves and when I went to look, you were there." He knew she didn't believe him since she again had that look on her face.
Of course, she replied, "That makes no sense." 
"Believe what you will. I'm taking you back." He continued to walk ahead and she followed timidly. They arrived in front of the tent once again. The two other strangers were still there, waiting for them. The woman was smirking while the taller man only looked at her suspiciously.
Namor then steps into the water, he was waist-deep before he turned to her, "Come." 
She hesitated, still. 
"I thought you wanted to go home?" He asked her, a playful grin on his lips.
"Yeah but- how do I know you're not gonna drown me once I get in there?" She crossed her arms in front of her chest and Namor laughing dryly caught her by surprise.
Teka. Ang cute nun ah. Hala. (Wait. That was cute. Oh no.)
"Trust me," His grin grows wider, "If I were to kill you, I wouldn't need the water." 
 She swallows and bites her lip at his words, her heart pounding for some strange reason. Maybe because he was cute when he smiled- oR MAYBE BECAUSE HE JUST FUCKING THREATENED TO KILL HER. 
She starts to weigh her options again but then, of course, not one of those was a perfect solution for an escape. And Namor said it himself, there was no way out of the cave without their help. So she sighs, might as well go with it. If she does die there- well- she hopes she doesn't but if she does- then she's dead. What else is there?
She walked over to the water and as soon as she was at the same water level as him, he pulled her closer to his chest, her face flushed when she braced herself against him, hands on his biceps.
Namor gives her the mouthpiece and she starts to feel her breathing slow down a little, her mind getting a bit fogged up with an unknown haze.
"Breathe." He commands and she follows. As soon as her breathing was steady, he drags her underwater.
"Eyes open, child." Was the next thing she heard him say. As soon as she did, she shielded them from the sun before looking around.
"Where-" She noticed they weren't near a beachfront like she expected. Instead, they were in the middle of fucking nowhere.
"Where I found you," Namor explains and she turns to him with another one of those disbelieving looks.
"What? No. That's-" She looks around again, "That's impossible. There's nothing here." She gestured to the open sea.
"Do you think I am lying?" Namor asks and she looks him in the eye. It unsettled her, even more, when she could see that he wasn't. He was telling the truth.
Pero what the fuck? (But what the fuck?)
"Where-" She swallows the lump in her throat, "Where are we?" 
Namor could tell that she was finally starting to believe him, "Near the borders of my kingdom." 
"And that would be where again?" 
"You surface-dwellers call this place the Atlantic Ocean." Surprisingly, he was patient with her despite her doubt and her use of foul language every now and then. 
"Why do you say that?" She suddenly asked and when he raised a brow, she clarified, "Why do you call me a surface-dweller?" 
Ah. Apparently, it still wasn't obvious to her that Namor and his people were different from her. Don't blame her though, some parts of her brain are working and some are not. Seriously though, whose brain would work properly after finding out you may or may not have been kidnapped by some weird-looking dudes?
"You don't live in the ocean, no?" Namor asked back, "How do you think I was able to carry you from the cave into the open sea without trouble? Without that mask?" 
She thought for a while. Namor could tell she was really racking up an idea in her brain with the way her brows furrowed and the way she scrunched up her nose. She was thinking- or at least she was trying to.
Finally, she gave up and shrugged, "I dunno. I just thought you were a good swimmer." 
Surprisingly, he chuckled. He was obviously amused. She was obviously stupid. 
"I am not like you." He then said, earning another raised brow from her, "What are you then?" 
"Think." He pointed at his forehead, in hopes that she would understand what he meant for her to do.
Thankfully, she did. She looked at him- really looked at him. She took note of his tanned skin, his deep brown eyes, his dark hair, and his jewelry. If that was all there is to him then she may have stuck with her first conclusion. Btu there were still the pointed ears- and she remembered seeing his winged feet. She also recalls the other two who had blue-colored skin. 
A dawning realization creeps up on her and as Namor watched her think, he could tell that she was starting to understand. She didn't. Not really. 
"So-" She starts, "You're- what?" She tried to think of a term but couldn't. Again, the brain was gone. There is one possibility she could think of but she thinks that the idea was too out there. There's a one-in-a-million chance that she'd be able to meet anyone from there.
So, no- it wasn't an option. It was too- unrealistic. 
But then another idea popoped in her head- not a good one though-
"Ah! Shokoy!" 
"Excuse me?" 
"Teka. Masyado kang gwapo para maging shokoy. But-" (Wait. You're too good-looking to be a shokoy. But-) She goes on a tangent once again, not bothering with Namor who was looking at her incredulously,
"You have the qualities, I mean- no, you don't- maybe?" She gestures to nothing, "Look, I don't know. You don't have fins and your ears are just pointy. You have winged feet instead of fins but then again, may paa nga ba pag shokoy?" (-but then again, do shokoy even have feet?)
"What did you call me?" Namor cuts her off her thinking, swimming closer to her a little and she finally looks up.
"A shokoy?" She asked back, "It's like a- hmmm- mer...man? Loosely." Unsure and a little confused, she wonders at the look he was giving her. 
"I am not a merman. I am a mutant." Namor was about to tell her the story of how he was born and how he became the ruler of the kingdom of Talokan. 
"Teka. Teka. Teka. Wait." She stopped him, waving her hands in front of his face, "You said, mutant. So- like- the X-Men?" 
"Who?" 
"X-Men. You know?" She asked and shrugged her shoulders. Not getting the reaction that she thought she would get from him, she continues, "Everybody knows the X-Men. They're new but apparently, they've been living among us for quite a while now. They're a new addition to the Avengers... kinda like a sub-group." She explained and when Namor still didn't show any sign of recognition, she tilted her head.
"You really have no idea who the X-Men are? They might be like you guys." 
Bat di niya alam? Eh kaka-join nga lang nung mga un sa Avengers. Na news pa nga un. Pero baka kase walang tv sa tubig. (Why doesn't he know? They just joined the Avengers. It was in the news. Maybe because there's no television underwater.)
"I do not care for the affairs of the surface-dwellers." Namor finally answered.
"Aray naman." (Ouch.) She replied and held her chest dramatically while she raised her other hand, "Surface-dweller here, sir." 
Namor grins unconsciously, "You are amusing."
Before she could say another word, Namor turned around and she sees that the woman from before was right behind him except she was wearing a different set of clothes and she had a huge headgear on.
They talk with each other in the language our protagonist can't understand. The words exchanged were said with a sense of urgency. She noticed the way Namor suddenly tensed- his back straightened and his biceps clenched. When he turned around to look at her, his brows were furrowed, his jaw set, and his nostrils were flared.
"What's going on?" She asked.
"Come, we must return to the cave." Namor grabs her by the arm without a second thought or any warning before they dove deep into the water.
She had no idea what was going on. The blue people, more of them, not just the first two who were with Namor, were scrambling around and they were carrying- 
"Are those spears?" She asked under her breath. She was just standing in the corner awkwardly. Looking here and there. 
As soon as they got back to the cave, Namor dove back into a much deeper pond. He was gone for minutes and she waited by the edge, not knowing what to do. The question of what the fuck is happening and how the fuck did she get there was still on her mind but when about a dozen of the foreign people emerged from the depths of the pond, she stepped to the side politely to make way for them- to whatever the hell they were going.
She looked at them and they stared back. They were probably wondering why someone like her was in there with them. It was obvious that she was a visitor. Well, maybe visitor is a loose term. 
Staring contest ito. Ang awkward. Ano ba gagawin ko dito? Pasok na lang kaya ako sa tent? (This is a staring contest. How awkward. What am I even doing here? Should I go back to the tent?) She thought to herself and started to crabwalk. 
Again, no idea why the crabwalk. That's just her weird ass choice.
"Stop." She heard someone say and she turned. One tall guy was approaching her in quick, long strides. It was a different one, someone she doesn't know by face.
"What?" She asked and took a step back since she was intimidated by the way this man was looking and walking toward her.
He speaks quickly- too quickly that it doesn't register in her brain. Not that it could, he was speaking in another language. He sounded commanding- he looked commanding. And when she didn't respond to him since she can't understand jack shit, he suddenly grabbed her by the arm-
"Oy! Tangina- get off!" (Fucker- get off!0 She yelled, surprised and frankly, a bit offended at how she was grabbed without warning. She tried to yank herself away from him, only to have the stranger laugh in a mocking tone.
Aba gago to a. (This asshole.)
"I said-" She gritted her teeth- FIGHT MODE ON.
"-GET. OFF!" She stomped her foot on his, making him let go of his iron grip, she doubled back and braced herself before kicking him in the nuts. He bent over in pain and shock. 
Never mess with a Filipina. 
She removed one of her aqua shoes and raised it over her head, "Nyeta ka. Makahablot, kala mo walang bukas. Who the hell are you?" (You fucker. Grabbing me like there's no tomorrow.)
The man glared at her and stood up, a threatening and dangerous look in his eyes, "Who do you think you are?!" He yelled angrily and was about to raise his hand but a firm grip on his shoulder stopped him.
They both turned and she sighed in relief when she saw Namor. They talked with each other, Namor sounding gentle yet with authority towards the other man. The stranger seemed to settle down before his eyes widened, making her wonder what else Namor had told him. 
The stranger looked at her and what he did next surprised and confused her even more. The man knelt on one knee right in front of her before muttering something in the other language, 
"Forgive me." 
She raised a brow but before she could even ask what the hell he was doing and why he was doing it and what he meant, Namor had taken her by the arm. He then spoke in a commanding tone over the people gathered by the cave.
She wondered what he was saying. It must've been important and it must be about her because they all looked at her with- she doesn't know what look they were giving her- maybe- acknowledgment? Could be.
Namor then turned to her, "There is something I have to attend to. You must stay here." He ordered,
"What? Where are you-"
"Stay. My people will look after you as I have instructed. I will return-" He calls her by a name in the language she's not familiar with and she tilts her head, not understanding shit. But again, before she could ask, he had turned on his heel and left with most of the people carrying spears out of the cave. 
Once they were all gone, she sighed, looking around at the remaining strangers with her. There were two men- who she assumed were left to guard her, and there were three younger women. 
Oh tapos. Ano na bes? Nga-nga. (So now what?)
One of the younger women then approached her and handed her some new clothes before gesturing for her to follow. She looked down at the garments and then back up at the stranger. With another heavy sigh, she thinks to herself-
May choice pa ba ko? (Do I have a choice?)
requested tagging: @deputy-videogamer @rokuhoku @queenotaku23​ 
169 notes · View notes
stuckybarton · 1 year
Text
Heads Under Water Masterlist
Tumblr media
Summary: All your life, you were afraid of the water. How you had found yourself drowning at a young age—only to be saved by a man living in the waters. Little did you know of the past you shared with the man whose name struck fear upon your family’s town and around the world. Characters: K'uk'ulkan/Namor x Atlantean Descendant! Filipino! Female Reader Warnings: Smut. Death. Blood. Mention of Wars. Possible Dark elements. Mentions of Thalassophobia. Specific warnings to be added to each parts.
Chronological Chapters
Intro
Part One
Part Two
Part Three
Part Four
Part Five
Part Six
Part Seven
Part Eight
Part Nine
Part Ten
Part Eleven
Part Twelve
Part Thirteen
Part Fourteen
Part Fifteen
Part Sixteen
Part Seventeen
Part Eighteen
Part Nineteen
Part Twenty
Part Twenty One
Part Twenty Two
Part Twenty Three
Part Twenty Four
Part Twenty Five
Part Twenty Six
Part Twenty Seven
Part Twenty Eight
Part Twenty Nine
One Shots / Blurbs / Imagines
Water Under The Bridge
More Than A Woman, Less of A God
816 notes · View notes
mrs-lockley · 1 year
Text
where the spirit meets the bones
Tumblr media
Summary: Above, a merciful Sirena roams the seas of the East. Below, a lonely king seeks retribution. Your paths cross one war-torn night when you save the life of a man from the sea with feathered wings on his ankles and ears that point to the sky. Enchanted by your siren song, the feathered serpent king becomes determined to find you, even if he must wait for half a century. 
Posted on AO3 here.
Pairing: Namor (K’uk’ulkan) x Filipina (Kapampangan)!Fem!Sirena!Reader 
Word Count: 6.6k
Warnings: Mentions of colonization (burning of a Spanish flag in a sea storm but nothing graphic), mentions of drowning and burning (nothing explicit), slow burn (pun not intended), mutual yearning and pining, mentions of death and the afterlife. Physical descriptions of the reader include dark hair and eyes
Tagging: @justrunamok @artsynellyyy @theatreslave @musing-magpie​ @lostfleurs @alathan13 @velvetmel0n​ @mattmurdockswife​ @ameliachastain​​​
Author’s Notes: Hello my darlings! After nearly two years, I have written my first fic. Please be gentle when giving feedback and I apologize if my writing is a bit rusty. But this fic is very loosely based on the Little Mermaid with some Philippine and Maya mythology. 
The reader is Filipina, but from an unidentified region from the province of Pampanga, Philippines. Kapampangan is also the reader’s first language (and my second language) and does not speak Tagalog. This is the first part of a trilogy.
Translations: Kapampangan, Yucatec Mayan, and some Tagalog is used in the fic. For smaller phrases, translations are found throughout the fic in italics. For longer sentences in Kapampangan and Yucatec Mayan, translations are found at the end of the fic (with additional author’s notes). 
Namor’s monologue is in italics in respect to his language. An online translating generator was used. If there are any errors in Kapampangan and/or Yucatec Mayan, please let me know and I will correct it. 
Tumblr media
How’s one to know I’d meet you where the spirit meets the bones in a faith forgotten land?
Lubao, Pampanga, June 1827
The moon was full when you rose to the surface, the night quieter than usual. Rain clouds begin to depart as the rain lightens into a steady downpour over the calming sea. The quiet after the storm, but your burning skin and aching bones say otherwise.
On the beach, a mother cries in relief as her daughter clears the water from her lungs, her arms immediately circling around her as she thanks Apong Díos and the angels above. Beside her, the father embraces his family with a joyous shout. 
You had caught the girl wandering the beach earlier that evening at the peak of the rainstorm. It was high tide then, the water lapping too close and too angry as she ran along the shore. One moment she was playing on the sand, and the next, the ocean had tried to swallow her whole.
You fought against the current in search for her, your lungs aching for air as the water screamed in defiance. Your tail cramped as you dove beneath the surface, narrowly fitting between the crevices of the sharp rocks and stones. Only slivers of moonlight guided your path through the dark stormy waters.
But you found her a moment later with her head barely above water, her arms and legs thrashing to stay afloat. Her pleas for help were drowned over the sound of the beating ocean and pouring rain, falling deaf on human ears. The girl’s panicked movements only propelled her deeper into the sea, and it was a matter of seconds before she would draw her last breath.
Softly, you began to sing to her. At the sound of your voice, the girl began to still, her movements drawing to a halt as you approached her. Her eyes fluttered shut, but her breathing slowed as her body was calmed by your song. The water around you began to bend to your will the louder you sang, enchanting the creatures and tides around you into submission. 
With ease, you wrapped your arms around the child and held them in a tight embrace as you swam to the shore. Her head on your shoulder, you continued to sing softly to her to quiet her mind and relax her body. 
You returned her to the surface as you gently laid her body on the sand, your hand cradling the back of her head. In the distance, the yellow lights of a nearby village hut began to flicker with shadows racing across the window. Quickly, you brushed her hair out of her face and pressed a gentle kiss to her forehead, your hand squeezing hers. 
“Gumising na.” Wake up.
At the sound of approaching voices, you released her hand and returned to the sea. 
The little girl stands and holds onto her mother’s hands as they depart from the shore, but she hesitates. You watch as she tugs on her mother’s hands and turns to her, urgently pleading for her mother to listen. The mother gazes at the sea, her expression unreadable as her eyes search for answers. The girl turns and points, but her mother shakes her head and carries her in her arms as the father shields them both from the rain, retreating into the safety of their hut.
You ignore the sharp pang splintering in your chest before you turn, floating on your back with your arms outstretched and offering yourself to the sky. Up above, the clouds continue to depart as the rain slows into a whispering shower kissing your skin.
As you bask in the moonlight, you run your fingers over the curved surface of the golden pendant resting on your chest. It was the last relic of your past life, the only physical memory of who you were before the ocean had claimed you as its own. Tonight was far different than the last night you walked on land, but it was quieter nights like these where your mind wandered into the past. One by one, it all came back to you. 
A gentle mother’s touch on your hand during a monsoon. A sister braiding your hair by the window. A father teaching you how to sail. A lover sneaking a kiss between dances. 
The heaviness in your chest deepens, spreading to your neck and to your eyes as they sting with tears. With pieces of your past echoing in your mind, you look up to the night sky and beg for comfort. One hundred years you have served the ocean. One hundred years you have saved your people from drowning. One hundred years of protecting the secrets of the sea. 
But it has also been one hundred years of loneliness. 
You were unlike the other creatures who dwelled in the sea. While the sirenas feasted on men and dragged them to their deaths, you rescued them and returned them to the shore. The kataws walked on land and were mistaken for humans as they manipulated the water to their will, while you tamed the water to save the innocent. Siyokoys devoured mortals, but you loved your people who walked on the land and found beauty in their world. While you have the sea turtles and dolphins at your side, your heart remains heavy as they whisper behind you. You were not their kind, why would the ocean choose to have mercy on you?
Gazing at the moon with the water holding you close, you stretch your hands and pray. Why did save me? Must I always bear this loneliness?
The only answer you receive is the pause of rainfall and a full moon sighing in the sky. 
Tumblr media
Mérida, Yucatán Peninsula, July 1858
By the time you open your eyes, the last of the sun’s rays had settled under the sea with the cool ocean breeze tickling your skin. The dolphin who carried you whistles softly as you wake, its tail brushing against yours as it waits for your command.
“Dakal a salamat,” you whisper. Many thanks. 
With a soft smile, you affectionately run your hands over the dolphin’s back as it clicks before disappearing into the sea. 
You do not know how long or far you have traveled, but as you take in your surroundings, you realize that you have wandered into foreign territory. As the sky darkens into the blues, violets, and greens of the night, the ocean welcomes you into its soft embrace. Around you, the waves fall into a steady calmness. Just as you enchant humans with your voice, this new ocean comforts you in a strange way you could not quite understand, almost as if it were welcoming you home. 
For a brief moment, you allow yourself to relax in these new waters by diving into its arms. As you swim beneath the surface, you find yourself finally able to breathe for the first time. You were far from your home in the Pacific, and you were far from the angry voices of the merfolk who haunted you. 
“Alang cuenta,” the sirenas sneered at you when you had rescued stray fishermen from falling into their trap. Furious at your intrusion, your sisters lunged for you and tore at your tail and skin with their webbed claws and bared teeth. You screamed for mercy as you fought back, but their teeth and nails were stronger as they dragged you deeper into the darkness of the sea.
Either out of boredom or mercy, your sisters finished their prey upon you and left you in the cold depths of the ocean where the light of the sun did not reach. Hours passed before you were able to move and swim to the coral reefs where the dolphins and sea turtles found you nursing your wounds. With your arms covered in bites and your chest and tail in cuts, you found refuge in the dolphins and allowed them to carry you far away from your tormentors. 
Rising to the surface, you push your hair back and run your hands over your face, suppressing a childish giggle at the realization of your newfound freedom. For weeks you traveled with the dolphins to escape their persecution. Despite spending the past one hundred years alone, for the first time in over a century, you feel nothing but relief. You were never welcomed by the creatures of the ocean back at home. Perhaps you could find a new home here. 
You pause. Around you, the ocean suddenly grows cold as ripples slowly reverberate throughout the surface of the water. A chill descends your spine as you suddenly become breathless and frozen.
On the seashore, a man slowly rises from the water, holding a scepter adorned in engravings in one hand with his back turned to you. A golden plate rests on the back of his neck with matching cuffs on his arms, wrists, and legs reflecting the glow of the rising moon. A similar belt rests on his hips and above a pair of dark green shorts, the only article of clothing he wears. In the dim light, your eyes trace the broad expanse of his shoulders and the thick muscles of his back, arms, and legs. An air of regality surrounds him as he fully emerges from the water and stands in his full form. 
This man is not human, you realize as he walks along the beach, the water yielding to his presence. He is a man of the sea. 
Your brows furrow in confusion as he kneels on the sand. 
Wings. There were wings on his ankles.
Something inside of you whispers to swim closer to the shore. With the waves beckoning towards you, you have no choice but to obey.
Holding your breath, you submerge yourself deeper into the water and hide behind a rock to avoid being seen. On the sand, the man with the winged ankles speaks softly in a language you don’t recognize.
“Jach tak in wilech,” he whispers and lowers his head. I miss you. 
His movements and words are gentle as he places a white flower on the sand, his voice soft and low as he continues to speak. Your heart pounds in realization as you watch him revere someone who could not be seen. This was a grave. 
Guilt consumes you as memories of your past life flood to the surface, your pendant weighing heavily on your chest. Turning away from the shore, you close your eyes to force down the tears that threaten to spill. How silly of you to think you could run away when your family rests at home across the ocean. Here, the water belongs to another. Who were you to leave your home behind and reside in a place as sacred as this?
Wiping at your eyes, you turn back to the shore and find the man speaking to the spirits. Even in the dim moonlight, you catch a glimpse of his face, his dark eyes full of emotion and grief.
Slowly, you reach for the sampaguita flowers in your hair and cradle them in your hands. One by one, you sing quietly to yourself as you place the flowers in the water. You linger for a few moments, your fingers running over the pendant on your chest as the water guides them to the beach. 
“Patawad na,” you breathe. I’m sorry.
With a final prayer, you return to the sea. 
On the beach, a soft hand reaches for the jasmine flowers. Dark eyes look to the horizon in search of the one who brought them, but the only answer given were the quiet waves lapping at the shore. 
Gently, the man with the winged ankles places the white flowers on the sand, creating a trail from the grave and towards the spirit’s old home before disappearing into the water.
The only evidence of his arrival is soon washed away by the rising tide of the ocean.
Tumblr media
Philippine Sea, near Manila, August 1894
Tonight was much like the last night you walked on land.
The air was laden with tension and uncertainty. Word from the fishermen and villagers had gone around that the conquistadors were having trouble with their colonies in the West. On the surface, you often found the land-dwellers running through the shadows of the trees in the jungle. The islands seemed to hum in anticipation at the whispers of a possible revolution.
In times like these, you turned a blind eye to your sisters drowning the oppressors on the beach. But your hands weren’t clean and bloodless either. As your sisters feasted on their flesh, you were the one to sing to them, distracting them with your sweet voice and innocent smile. 
(You would do it again in a heartbeat, you soon realize. With each conquistador that steps into the water, another revolutionary returns safely home.)
But tonight was different from those quiet nights of revolutionaries lurking in the shadows of the jungle. Tonight was a war.
Lightning strikes through the stormy sky and fuels the flames licking at the near abandoned trade ship drowning in the fury of the summer typhoon. The white sails darken into ash as the Spanish flags fade into dust. 
Around you, your sisters call to them with outstretched arms, promising to save them from a violent death. You do not sing to invite them further in, nor do you move when your sisters feed on their flesh. You watch silently as your enemies fall and drown to their death, your skin heated by the scorching fires of their sinking ships. With memories of your last night flashing through your mind, you gaze at the burning flags in contempt. It is only fitting that the last thing they see is your face before falling to their demise. 
Suddenly, one of your sisters screams and points to the sky. 
Aswang!*
The sirenas shriek and recede into the water as the remaining men on deck scream in terror. Lightning illuminates the sky once more and reveals the silhouette of the figure flying in the air. 
Your breath stops in your throat as you glimpse at the figure, your eyes falling to their feet. 
The man with the feathered wings on his ankles.
You look up at him, your heartbeat mirroring the resounding claps of thunder. The man with the wings pays no heed to your sisters retreating into the safety of the water. Instead, his gaze is focused on the colonizers clinging onto the debris of their sinking ships.
He raises his spear and strikes. 
The ocean thirsts for violence as crimson stains its waters. With each strike of lightning and roar of thunder, the further the Spanish ships sink to the bottom of the sea. Screams and gunshots plague the night as the monsoon beats its anger onto the surface world. One by one, the colonizers perish by the sea, the bloodthirst of your sisters, or the man exacting his vengeance from above. 
Your eyes widen. On the deck of the last ship sailing, a colonizer opens fire and aims his weapon at the sky.
“Saguli-!” You shout. Wait!
Everything moves in slow motion. Before the trigger is pulled, bursts of red, orange, and yellow blinds your vision. Your ears ring from the explosion as your left shoulder is consumed by a sharp pain that resembles shark teeth digging into your bones. 
As your vision begins to clear, the rain continues to pour. Furls of silver smoke surround you as the burning fires devour the last wooden planks of the sunken ship. Despite the rumble of thunder and cries of the sea, the night is suddenly quiet with only the low crackle of flickering flames filling the silence. Your sisters have disappeared. The colonizers have perished. 
In the sky, the man from the sea burns before falling into the water. 
Without hesitation, you dive into the sea to search for him with the flickers of the dying flames guiding your path underwater. In the distance, the glint of his spear reflects the light of the surface fires with its owner sinking beside him, his eyes closed and his back covered in black ash. 
Ignoring the pain in your shoulder, you wrap your arms around his torso and hold him close as you swim towards the surface.
Please be alive, you pray as you break through the water, your lungs aching as you carry the man in your arms. Please.
...
The monsoon begins to falter when dusk brightens the sky. The rain slows into a steady downpour and the wind turns from a thunderous gust and into a whispering breeze. Gray storm clouds weigh heavily in the sky, but cracks of sunlight peek through the horizon. 
Tears burn your eyes as your cries echo in the cove. Pain engulfs your left shoulder and your body screams in agony from fighting against the violence of the waves and the rage from the skies. With a cry of pain, you push yourself up and untangle your arms from the body of the man you rescued. The man from the sea with feathered wings on his ankles. 
A gasp of relief escapes your lips the moment you feel the steady drumming of his heartbeat underneath your trembling fingertips. 
“Salamat,” you breathe, a childish laugh rumbling in your chest as you wipe at your eyes. “You’re alive.”
With a gentle hand, you brush his dark hair back. The dusky rays of sunlight kiss his tanned skin, casting shadows of the planes and contours of his peppered cheeks. Drops of jade sit beneath his pointed ears and mirror the jewel on his nose. Beads of white pearls and golden rings adorn his neck. A large plate rests on his chest with two deep blue serpents meeting in the middle, a large pearl sitting in the center. 
In the dim light of the early morning, you cannot help but gaze in awe at the beautiful man laying in your arms. 
Who is he? You wonder as you softly trail your hand from his hair and down his arm, a frown settling on your lips at the sight of dried blood and deep bruises at his side. 
You glance back at his face once more. You should be afraid of him, a stranger from a foreign land who showed no mercy to his enemies. But despite the violence of the previous night, you remember the first night you saw him on the beach in the Atlantic. You remember his dark eyes full of grief, his gentle hands cradling the flowers, and his soft voice whispering in the wind.
The man sleeping before you now was not the same man that tormented his enemies at sea, but the man you met on that summer seashore.
Gently, you lean forward to caress his cheek and sing.
“Potang paintunan mu ku, lumwal ka, talanga ka. Akit me ing bulan a masala karin mikit kata. E na ka matakut, e na ku naman migaganaka, uling balu ku balang beni mikikit ka king laman ning bulan a masala.”
As you sing the last note, the man begins to stir. 
Panic floods through you as you look down to find his hand wrapped around your right wrist. His grip is firm but gentle, with the heat of his skin warm against yours. 
Swallowing the ache in your chest, you lean forward to cup his face with both of your hands, your thumbs stroking his cheeks as you gently press your lips to his forehead. 
“Mikit tána pasibáyo,” you whisper. We will meet again. 
With one last look, you squeeze his hand and retreat into the water. 
Whispers of a man from the sea with feathered wings on his ankles spread across the surface. From the villagers and fishermen to the convoys and rulers, people spoke of his existence in hushed tones, afraid that speaking his name would incur his wrath. Parents passed his story to their children as folklore, but those who were old enough remembered seeing him walk along the beach before his footprints were washed away by the waves of the ocean. 
K’uk’ulkan, they called him. The feathered serpent god. 
The King of Talokan prided himself as a benevolent ruler and a protector of his people. For three hundred years, K’uk’ulkan kept their kingdom a secret under the sea. He lived, breathed, and bled for them, enduring the pain from the surface world to protect the Talokanil from the violence of the land-dwellers. For this, K’uk’ulkan reigned as their king, their feathered serpent ruler. 
While tales of the feathered serpent were considered myths to the tribes on the beach, another name was whispered across the seven seas. From the clergy and the admirals, no one dared to speak the moniker out loud. 
El niño sin amor, the Spanish priests warned. The child without love. 
“Namor,” his enemies gasped as they looked up at him, their eyes wide with fear. 
It had been five weeks since the Spanish ships departed from the Atlantic. Five weeks before he finally found the ships that had stolen the resources from his kingdom. As the monsoonal rain raged its wrath over the blazing fires of the splintering ships on a foreign sea he was not familiar with, Namor raised his spear and struck with no mercy. 
It all unraveled so fast. One moment he vanquished his enemies, and the next he was swallowed by flames.
He vaguely remembered the ocean welcoming him as he fell from the sky. In the dark stillness of the water, Namor could only watch a dark shadow pass above him. Three hundred years he served his people as their king. Three hundred years he fought, protected, and bled for his kingdom. Maybe just this once, he could overcome the trials in Metnal* and leave the crown behind.
But the gods had other plans for the King of Talokan. Behind the dark veil of his eyes, a soft voice called out to him. The voice was different from the songs of the Talokanil and sung in a language he did not recognize. Her voice was lower, deeper, but sweet and comforting. 
A siren song. 
With eyes as heavy as stone, Namor willed his body to move, his hands grasping at rough skin. It was a song that willed him to return to the land of the living, willing him to carry the crown and breathe. 
For a brief moment, he felt the ghost of her hands stroking his face and her lips on his skin. But when he opened his eyes, he found himself alone in a cove with the monsoon slowing into a whisper. 
Running a tired hand over his face, Namor sits up and breathes a deep sigh. His lungs ache from the sharp exhale as he takes in his surroundings. Straight ahead, the wide entrance of the cove welcomes the quiet low tides of the sea. Despite the storm clouds, the horizon brightened into hues of deep blues and violets with the distant call of songbirds singing in the distance. 
In the calmness of dawn, the King of Talokan could still hear the soft whispers of the siren song singing to him in the cove. Like a fog, his senses were enveloped by her, his skin prickling at the memory of her touch and his ears mistaking the sound of songbirds to the likeliness of her voice.
As he stands, his eyes flicker to the reflection of the rising sun in the water, a small burst of light catching his gaze. Ignoring the pain in his back, Namor rushes to where the edge of the rock meets the sea. 
His heart pounds and his head spins as he cradles the item in his hand, his breath halting in his throat.
In his hand was a golden necklace with its delicate chain torn in two, a pendant of a small flower resting in the center. 
The same flower he found on the Yucatán seashore. 
“Yaan in kaxtikech,” he breathes. “Ma importa u tojol.”
I will find you, no matter the cost.
Tumblr media
Philippine Sea, December 1910
It had been sixteen years since Namor heard you last.
The skies disagreed with him when he returned to the sea where you rescued him. For several months, the monsoons raged throughout the region. Time to time, he encountered trade ships from the North, South, East, and West sailing through the merciless monsoons. Other times, he found war on the sea with different flags flying through the wind and crimson being spilt on the waters. Echoes of gunshots, fire cannons, and war cries sounded throughout the night with the tumultuous tidal waves consuming everything in its path. 
With each passing ship, Namor heard the distant sound of the siren songs calling to the unsuspecting sailors and soldiers. With their heads barely above water, he watched the sirens bewitch their prey, their eyes glassy and unseeing before falling to their death. More than once, he found himself entranced by their voices. But each time his ears registered their harmonies, he turned away. 
Their voices were beautiful, but they were not you. They were not his sirena. 
Only you were the one to enchant the feathered serpent king. 
Tonight was different from that summer night, for it was the start of the dry season. Up above, the moon glowed brightly in the night sky without a single cloud in sight. The luminous glow of the moon reflected on the surface of the water, but its reflection was distorted by the growing ripples and the quiet tide of the sea. 
The air cooled his skin as Namor reached the surface, his back turned to the full moon. It was almost as if no time had passed since the last time he was in the cove. Although the tides were lower, Namor could still hear the distant melody of your song echoing throughout the cove. It was as if he were drowning in you all over again. 
Sixteen years ago, he first heard your siren song. But it had been fifty-two years since he first met you. 
A deep ache ate at his chest that particular night. After distracting his generals and evading their watchful eyes, Namor sought refuge on the sand. For three hundred years, he reigned as the King of Talokan. When the crown became heavy to bear, he would slip away from his advisors and find solace in visiting his mother on the surface. He carried the souls of the departed in his heart and their memories in his mind, but sometimes the water suffocated him. Nearly two centuries have passed since he last laid his mother to rest and cleaned her bones, but her memory was clear as day in his mind. He may have been born in the water, but his mother had walked on land - it was all in his blood.
“The Talokanil look to me as their King, their God. I would do anything for them,” K’uk’ulkan whispered as he gently placed the water lilies on her grave. “Just as you did everything to protect me.”
He loved his people just as they loved him. He did not regret taking the throne at a young age and the responsibility of leading and protecting them, but there was a heaviness growing deep inside his chest. An emptiness that he often ignored, but was constantly consumed by its hand.
He remembered watching her hair turn silver and the fine lines settling on her skin as he remained young. In the eyes of many, he was still a child. Yet, he carried the years inside him as centuries passed, watching the people he loved age before they breathed their last breath.
“Every day I see our people grow old, but I remain young and know one day I will mourn and miss them as much as I miss you, na’*.”
The only memories K’uk’ulkan had of his father were the stories recounted to him by his mother. When he sat on her knee, he remembered the smile on her face as she showed him the bracelet she wore on her wrist. Tracing the pearls with his fingers, he could feel his father’s love radiating from each bead. Despite their circumstances, he admired the love his father had for his mother, the same love that he carried in his veins. 
“I may be King, but I stand at the throne with no one to share it with, and sleep with no one to hold at my side,” K’uk’ulkan whispered. “I am lonely, na’. So incredibly lonely.”
He wondered what it would be like to love just as his parents did. To have someone to wake up next to, and to fall asleep with every night. To hold and be held by the arms of someone who loves you.
The King of Talokan did not expect an answer, nor did he expect to see white jasmine flowers drifting towards him on the seashore.
The very same flower that rests in his hands now.
The petals are soft in his hands as he places it on the quiet whispers of water. In the beginning, Namor thought of the flowers as a strange coincidence. He knew that such flowers were native to the lands in the East, but he had seen trade ships sail across oceans and between continents. It was possible that cargo could have fallen through the cracks. 
Initially, Namor tried to ignore it and stop himself from jumping to conclusions, but something foreign gripped his heart. A small glimmer of hope that maybe, just maybe, there was someone out there meant for him to love and be loved.
It had all come together when he found your necklace on the rocks. 
For sixteen years, your siren song haunted Namor. He had met sirens and other merfolk throughout his lifetime, but there was something different about your song that called to him. Other siren songs were meant to hypnotize their prey before they drowned or were sacrificed to water deities. Their songs meant destruction to anyone who heard their voice, but your song was sweeter, more gentle. Rather than death, your song brought him back to life. 
That was something he still did not understand. Why would you save him? 
With the jasmine flowers as an offering, the King of Talokan begins to sing.
“X ciih x ciichpan u tz’ u likil yook kaax; tu bin u hopbal tu chumuc can caan tux cu ch’uuytal u zazicunz yookol cab tu lacal kaax chen cici u tal iik u utz’ben booc.”
As he sings, the tidal waves begin to slow into a lull. The ocean did not dare to drown his melody. 
“Pitah nookeex luuz u kaxil a holex ba teneex hee cohiceex uay yokol cabile x zuhuyex x chupalelex hel u.”
The water stills on his last note, but the ocean breeze carries his lullaby throughout the cove. His heart beats heavily, his grip tightening on the necklace as he turns. Dark brown eyes flicker to every corner and crevice of the cove and his ears strain to hear any sudden sounds that could indicate your presence. 
It is not often that the feathered serpent god sings. Rare and far in between, the only times he ever sang with his heart was with his mother. She taught him the songs she learned when she was a child on the surface, especially this song. 
“When I was young, my friends and I would gather and sing this song to keep and bring back a lover.”
“Did it work?”
His mother smiled sweetly at him and playfully poked the tip of his nose. She could not help but laugh when he scrunched his face. “It did. This song was how I met your father. It is the reason you are here.”
He holds his breath as he waits for your arrival in the cove. With each heartbeat echoing in his ears, a heaviness begins to settle in chest. Hope turns to fear, its icy hands crawling at his skin as the waves rise with the tide. 
Shadows of the waves dance across the dimly lit walls. Above, the stars whisper to the moon as the celestial beings await your arrival.
Swallowing the growing ache in his heart, Namor turns his back to the moon and starts his way towards the darkness of the cove. 
A small splash disturbs the silence.
“Maryu ka man kabug ning salu mu, saingsing mu panamdaman ku.”
The King stops in his tracks.
“Balu ku, atindian ku.”
It is you. His sirena.
“Akit me ing bulan a masala, karin mikit kata.”
Like ivy growing around a stone, your song ensnares him. 
“E na ka tumakut, e na ku naman migaganaka.”
Slowly, he turns around. Underneath the silver halo of the bright moon, you rise to the surface. 
“Uling balu ku balang bengi mikikit kata king lalam ning bulan a masala.”
Hanging onto each word, Namor walks towards the edge, his senses enveloped by you. Your voice is soft and deep, comforting and captivating as you swim closer to meet him.
“Parati mu sa’ng tandanan, muran man atiu ya ing bulan.”
Your dark eyes meet his gaze as you look up at him. His eyes never leave yours as you sing the final note with a small smile gracing your lips. Time seems to still, his heart skipping a beat as you finally meet where the land meets the sea.
You are more beautiful than he could have imagined. White jasmine flowers adorn your dark hair like little stars shining in the night sky. In the moonlight, he catches a glimpse of your dark green tail, its scales reflecting the glow of the moon beneath the surface of the water. 
His sirena, his lool.*
He finally found you.
The feathered serpent god slowly falls to his knees right in front of you, his head bowed in respect.
“Because of you, my people still have a King,” his voice is gentle as he speaks. “You saved my life, and I will forever thank you.” 
He still remembers that morning when he returned to his kingdom. For almost a week, Namor had left Talokan in search of the Spanish ships across the Pacific and placed his leadership into his advisors and top generals. This was not the first time he left to protect the borders and identity of Talokan, but it was the first time he did not come back on the day he promised.
Fear flooded his mind when he fell through the sky. He was always strong enough to destroy his enemies, but he was never this defenseless when his unconscious body hit the water. Any remaining survivors could have exploited his lack of defenses, but he was stunned to wake up in a sea cove with his wounds nearly healed. 
You reach for him, your gentle hands cradling his face as you silently plead for him to look at you. Almost hesitantly, he follows your command.
“Who are you?”
He has many names, but he wishes for you to call him only by one name. 
“My people call me K’uk’ulkan.”
K’uk’ulkan closes his eyes and leans into your touch as your fingers delicately trace his face, your voice enchanting him once more as you repeat his name. 
He remembered your palm caressing his cheek and your lips on his skin. As King of Talokan, he often hid this soft side of himself away from his people. But with you, his walls crumbled like tidal waves dissolving castles in the sand. 
Pulling himself out of his trance, he opens his eyes and covers your hand with his own, his thumb lightly tracing over your knuckles. 
“What is your name?”
Your voice is quiet as you speak, almost as if you are hesitant to reveal yourself. 
“Y/N.”
A beautiful name for a beautiful soul.
K’uk’ulkan repeats your name as he grasps your hand and gently raises it to his lips. 
For a brief moment, the King catches a flicker of sadness in your eyes, but it vanishes as you conceal it with a small smile. 
Little did he know that he is the first person to call you by your real name and touch you with such care in two hundred years.
Not wanting to frighten you, K’uk’ulkan softens his voice as he speaks. “I believe I have something that belongs to you.”
Confusion passes over your face, your brows furrowed and your lips parted in a silent question. 
Although he did not know the importance of your necklace, he noticed the rust and scratches that eroded at the delicate metals. The necklace was worn with love, but it was crafted by human hands and not intended to withstand the cruelty of the ocean. With care, he brought the necklace to his jewelers to restore it to its former glory with the addition of two pearls and the revived jasmine pendant in the center. 
A sharp gasp escapes your lips as he presents your necklace to you, your eyes wide as they brim with tears. 
“May I?” He asks quietly.
You nod and bow your head.
With soft hands, the feathered serpent god leans forward and places it over your head. Once it settles over you, you cradle the pendant and pearls in your palms in awe. 
“I thought that this was gone forever,” you whisper as you look up at him, a stray tear streaming down your cheek. “Thank you for bringing it back to me.”
“Nothing is gone forever, only lost until it is found.” K’uk’ulkan cups your face gently, his warm hand brushing away the tears that had fallen down your cheeks. 
His heart warms at the sound of your soft laughter and the sight of your smile. How true his words were. In the fifty-two years he had met you, he thought you were a dream, a possible figment of his imagination that his mind created to cope with the growing emptiness in his bones. But you were real. You were the one watching over him when he found the flowers on the seashore and rescued him from the scorching fires that raged across the sea. He vowed to find you, but he had gotten it wrong. 
Each time, you were the one to find him. 
Looking into your eyes now, he finds himself drowning in them. Dark, deep, and inviting, a silent storm brewing inside of them. The King of Talokan had seen eyes like yours before– eyes that look young, but have seen years of pain, heartbreak, loss, and grief– yet, there was a vulnerability to them. Despite the centuries you carried in your heart, he knew and understood the violence you endured to be this kind. 
You thread your fingers with his, your hands locked in a delicate embrace as you begin to pull yourself away from the rocks and swim closer to the waves. 
You call his name tenderly, your voice a soft plea. “K’uk’ulkan.”
With a gentle tug on his hand, the feathered serpent god descends into the water. 
Come with me. 
There is no song to entice him. It is only you.
Long ago, K’uk’ulkan heard tales of a red string of fate that tied two soulmates together from the Far East. Perhaps it is the red string that pulls him closer to you now as you guide him deeper into the water, your hands entwined together, your lips whispering against his and your tail curling around his legs. With your dark eyes and gentle voice, he has no choice but to follow. 
Only the bright full moon bears witness to the reunion of the sirena and her feathered serpent king disappearing into the sea.
Tumblr media
Translations
Alang cuenta (Kapampangan) - Useless, no meaning
Aswang (Tagalog) - Monster
Potang paintunan mu ku, lumwal ka, talanga ka (Kapampangan) - When you look for me, go outside, look up
Akit me ing bulan a masala karin mikit kata (Kapampangan) - We will see each other when there is a bright moon.
E na ka matakut, e na ku naman migaganaka (Kapampangan) - Do not be afraid, do not worry.
Uling balu ku balang beni mikikit ka king laman ning bulan a masala (Kapampangan) - I know one night we will meet underneath a bright moon.
Na’ (Yucatec Mayan) - Mother
Metnal (Yucatec Mayan) - The Yucatec Mayan term for the Underworld. Not to be confused with Xibalba, “the Place of Fright.”
The Flower Song (Yucatec Mayan) - 1, 2
The Flower Song is originally ancient Maya lyrical poetry from the Songs of Dzitbalche. According to John Curl, the Flower Song was a “rite” to keep a lover that was traditionally sung by a group of women–typically under the supervision of an older woman– and performed under the moonlight. Later parts of the poem mention offering plumeria flowers to create a love potion. 
For the purpose of this fic, K’uk’ulkan learned the song from his mother. 
X ciih x ciichpan u tz’ u likil yook kaax; tu bin u hopbal tu chumuc can caan tux cu ch’uuytal u zazicunz yookol cab tu lacal kaax chen cici u tal iik u utz’ben booc - The most alluring moon has risen over the forest; it is going to burn suspended in the center of the sky to lighten all the earth, all the woods, all the lights shining on it all. 
Pitah nookeex luuz u kaxil a holex ba teneex hee cohiceex uay yokol cabile x zuhuyex x chupalelex hel u - Take off your clothes, let down your hair, become as you were when you arrived here on Earth. 
Maryu ka man kabug ning salu mu, saingsing mu panamdaman ku (Kapampangan) - Your chest/heart will feel heavy when we are apart
Parati mu sa’ng tandanan, muran man atiu ya ing bulan (Kapampangan) - Do not forget that the moon will be there when it rains.
For the complete lyrics and song, please refer to the YouTube link here. 
318 notes · View notes
bellonalabelle · 1 year
Text
You're Just a Man || Namor X Goddess!Filipino!Reader
Note: Reader shall be referred as “Purigadang pada sinaklang Bulawan” or “Bulawan” in short. SPOILER AHEAD!
Summary: The feathered serpent god faced The Goddess of Wealth and Greed's Disapproval of his way of attempting to create an alliance and declaration of war.
Warnings: Angst, Hurtful words will be exchanged, Ego and pride will be stepped on.
Below the belt comebacks.
· · ─────── ·𖥸· ─────── · ·
Revered with beauty and a face of perfection, Namor cannot help but admire how his goddess of a wife’s brows furrow as he continues to paint on the walls.
“Yet again, you are not listening to me.”
The brush halted from gliding on the smooth surface as She turned her back at him with her arms crossed.
The golden ornaments that adored her hair created a gentle sound as it followed her movements.
"In k'iino', Just this once can you not see this the way i do?”
Namor asked as he placed his paintbrush down to face his wife and Queen. He did not mean any disrespect to his wife’s opinion on capturing the princess of wakanda and the scientist.
If it be any other argument They would usually come into a compromise that leaves both parties happy.
However the safety of their underwater kingdom is at stake and he could not afford to waste time.
“You are being reckless, seeking alliance yet you sanctioned death on the scientist.”
she turned to face him
“And now you captured the crown princess, the only remaining heir of Wakanda. Do you have any idea what you just brought upon us? Our people?”
She questions as she steps closer to him, chin up as she looks at him eye to eye through her thick lashes. If he had not made her his wife, she would’ve been his greatest nemesis.
For she is the only one who dares challenge him and will win.
“I do not plan on harming the princess unless necessary. She must see what I must protect in order to form this alliance. "
he brings up his arms to cup her cheeks,
"She must see that annihilating that scientist will keep Talokan safe from the surface dwellers”
He Caressed the warm soft flesh as if speaking an unspoken apology, The Deity allows this as her piercing gaze looks up at him.
“And what if she disagrees? There is no guarantee that she will see it your way.”
Namor replied with ice in his words
“Then wakanda will be the first to fall against our war with the surface world”
Bulawan looks at him exasperated as she removes herself away from his grasp.
“You underestimate your foes, I have forgotten that you are still mortal after all."
Her words felt heavy on his heart as his expression turned cold and stoic.
“I have told you many times that your callous ways will one day prove to be ineffective, maybe that day is upon us.”
She speaks from experience, she knows that there is no changing her stubborn husband’s mind. She has seen how this kind of situation played out too many times.
Namor took offense with her words as his own brows furrowed, growing frustrated.
“My Callous ways have proven to be effective through centuries and have kept my people safe.”
His gaze cold as he looks down at her in an attempt to intimidate yet she only met his gaze.
“Since you claim you’re so much wiser, Why is your life spent all alone before our alliance?”
Silence filled the air as his words hung over them, he only realized the weight of his words when the deity's golden orbs showed hurt.
Being reminded of what she has lost Centuries ago left a bitter taste in her mouth, especially since it came from someone who she thought she could trust.
He attempted to take back his words yet it is far too late as the deity takes a step back from him.
" In yakunaj, i did not mea–"
They are interrupted by someone clearing their throat as they announce their arrival.
"K'uk'ulkan, In Reina, The princess is here"
They both face the direction of the entrance. Bulawan, no longer in the mood to argue, decided to cut the conversation short as she faced him.
"One day…you will know what I speak of, one day you might understand, One day…But that is not today because after all…"
Her gaze was stern as she spoke
"You're just a Man."
· · ─────── ·𖥸· ─────── · ·
181 notes · View notes
Text
Okay but Namor x Filipino!Reader things
Bonding over hating Spaniard colonists.
Reader using modern day Tagalog and Namor noticing the incorporation of Spanish words. Then reader explains that most people don't remember deep Tagalog dialects anymore. Namor realizes it happened in his mother's Homeland as well.
Loving how tan they are and how majestic their hair is. Both of them a little annoyed that those of the same ancestry these days want to be lighter and bleach their hair.
Going to the beach and swimming together because they were born for this heat.
Sharing each other's lost histories and myths.
Both of them wearing really revealing clothes because they are either swimming or on the beach and don't like being fully clothed.
Reader trying to convince Namor to get tattoos because she has Philippine tribal tattoos.
The collective appreciation of mango as an elite fruit.
Both of them being really into specific jewelry because it's related to their culture, especially gold and jade and shells.
Roasting each other. Playfully. Where it sounds a little mean to everyone else.
Dying or killing for each other.
Jealous and possessive with each other because they have the same type of toxicity.
Reader totally not batting an eyelash at everyone in Talokan calling each other cousin/aunt/uncle/child because she's used to extended and adopted families because that's what Filipinos do.
Reader nicknaming Namor 'Sirena' because they thought he was a mermaid when they met.
Teaching each other curse words but not telling the other one they are curse words.
Shenanigans.
Arguments across multiple languages.
Reader being hyper physically affectionate that Namor is surprised by it.
I'm rambling because I'm thinking too much
69 notes · View notes
voidgenesis · 1 year
Text
I may or may not be writing a Namor x Filipina oc/reader who is revered as the reincarnation & avatar of the Tagalog-Visayan sea goddess Amansinaya because of her mutant water based abilities (basically how K'uk'ulkan is to the people of Talokan)
She's born during the early days of the Spanish colonization as a child of a babaylan who refused to abandoned their traditional faith & practices. Along with other surviving shamans they prayed to the heavens for salvation from the colonizers.
So when the reader's abilities as mutant came out in her puberty they saw her as a saviour sent by the gods.
👀 my filo namor enjoyers what do we think...
Tumblr media
50 notes · View notes
rokuhoku · 1 year
Text
"beloved."
Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media
Pairing: Namor x Filipino!Reader
Rating: General Audiences, Comedy
Summary: You ask your... "sorta" friend what the meaning of his other name is. His answers break your heart, so you take matters into your own hands.
Word Count: 2,516
Content Warning: Mentions of colonialization
Disclaimer: Again, as mentioned before, Namor is slightly cold towards the reader! He isnt hateful or anything, just has his guard up bc of surface world resentment. Though, that guard can be taken back down sometimes ;)
__________
Reminder: This fic is part of a Namor x Filipino!Reader miniseries, but can be read on its own! Miniseries fic(s):
a piece of your history. / "beloved."
__________
The soft tune of a Filipino song played in the air, its melody dancing along with the sounds of the waves hitting the sand. Namor could only make out a few words within the song as he remembered the few phrases you had taught him. The melody was nice and eased his nerves, though he would never admit that to your face.
“What did they call you again?”
Namor blinked, processing your sudden question for a few seconds. Before you had suddenly asked him a question, you were both simply by the shore of the beach you frequented, with him in the water and you in the dry sand as usual, reading to him aloud a book that had come across your interests.
He looked at you questioningly, causing you to sputter over your words. “Oh! I meant what the Spaniards had called you when they…” You trailed off, fearing that you may have crossed a line with him this time. You knew how sore the topic was already, despite not knowing the full details as Namor refused to show any hint of vulnerability with you (or so you thought).
“What I mean is…” You cleared your throat, already bracing yourself for his reaction. 
“.... Why do certain people have to call you ‘Namor’?” You finished, closing the book, shifting to fully turning to him, indicating that you were paying special attention. The cogs clicked in place in Namor’s head as he finally understood your question. He noticed that you had said ‘certain people’ instead of enemies, likely the reason being you two weren’t exactly enemies nor friends in both of your books. 
“Uhm, you don’t have to answer if it’s too… y’know….” You quickly added, waving your hands in a dismissive manner. Namor’s eyebrows raised at you, causing your face to heat up. “I mean… alam naman natin na gago sila…” You quickly mumbled the last part. 
Namor seemed to be deep in thought for a moment, before he shook his head and chuckled. “No, I can answer if you would like me to.” 
Namor ran his fingers through the water, clearly contemplating on how he should approach your question. He smiled bitterly at you as he remembered the hateful memory. Your hands immediately went to your phone, turning the volume down on the classic OPM playlist you were playing.
“When my mother died, she asked to be buried in her homeland,” He started, playing with the wet sand underneath the water. Namor smiled, a loving look overtook his bitter expression.
“She wanted to show me the surface world and its beauty.” Her soft and caring smile flashed in his mind, it was as if he could still remember the days where she hugged him with such care. His mother was always so gentle, so sweet with him. 
The prolonged gentle expression on Namor’s face was an unfamiliar one, as it was often hardened or practically deadpanned at you. You were only used to the occasional soft glimpses in his eyes.
A small part of you wished you could see this type of his face more, but that was crossing the line in your book.
“But, when I arrived…” Namor’s expression soon darkened. “They were here.” You winced, knowing exactly who he was talking about. He grit his teeth.
“They called me… ‘El Niño sin Amor’.” 
He looked back at the sea, feeling that if he stared at you, you would see nothing more than hate and anger burn in his eyes, a look that would most likely scare you away. You don’t know if it helped, but you nodded understandingly, almost as if implying that he can feel if he wants to.
Namor could remember the look of fear and hatred in the man’s eyes, as if the Spaniards didn’t force him and his people to retreat in the ocean due to the illness inflicted upon them by the colonizers, before enslaving those who remained on land. 
“The child without love, as they boasted.” Namor spoke in a rather biting sarcastic tone. Though he was smiling, the grin on his face was one of anger, holding no genuine joy or happiness in it.
“I took Namor from that, because I have no-” His eyes locked with you for a brief second before he averted his gaze. “-love for the surface.”
Your fingers played with the cover of the book you were holding, as you frowned even more and stared at him in disbelief. 
“Luh? So bale, you were called a loveless child,” You began, a startled impression on your face, “just because you killed the colonizers after they basically enslaved and killed your people?” You asked for clarification, scrunching your eyebrows in confusion. Namor nodded, a rather grim smile on his face.
“Aba, ang kakapal ng mukha nila ah…” You grumbled, before muttering something about how hypocritical and barbaric they were. Namor smiled gratefully at you, knowing you shared the same sentiment. 
He sighed, as if tired of having to relive the same memory over and over again. Namor looked back at the sea, a subtle slouch in his posture now. 
For a moment, you both sat there in silence, contemplating the lives of those who lived before (at least in your case) you. So many of Namor’s people were enslaved and forced by the Spaniards, yet they dare to call him the loveless child?
You pursed your lips, your eyes looking over Namor.
He wasn’t a child without love. His mother had loved him so, it was obvious by the way his voice would hush into a gentle baritone each time she was brought up.
His people loved him so, or at least, that’s what you can make up from his stories. You’ve only ever been able to gaze at them from afar in the sea, whenever they occasionally came to check up on him. Though with the way they addressed him you could easily see the fondness.
An idea popped into your head, though you were a bit hesitant to actually do it. 
“Hey,” You called out, scooting closer to him, the waves licking at your feet. Namor rose an eyebrow at you, though your invasion of his personal space did not deter him.
Finally, you sat in the water next to him, perhaps this was one of the very few times you were both less than three feet apart. Namor’s mouth opened, about to tell you off that your clothes were getting wet and rather quite see-through.
You snickered, a mischievous look overtaking your eyes, a look that Namor was quite familiar with. Too familiar with it, he adds to himself. 
You pointed at his face, before your pointer finger came into contact with the scrunch between his eyebrows.
Namor’s brain went blank, processing exactly what you had done to him. Before he can even make a reaction, you cut him off.
“Iniirog.” 
You started slowly, gauging for his reaction. Namor’s eyes narrowed at you, confused but not offended. Your smile soon went into a toothy grin. 
“Sinisinta.” 
Namor grabbed your wrist and pulled away from your finger, clearly puzzled. The soft, cool touch of his damp fingers sent goosebumps up your back, but you continued nevertheless.
“Kinagigiliwan.” 
You were practically giggling at this point, leaning your body towards him, as if to tease him about the words you were uttering, completely dismissing that he had not understood what you were saying.
Hesitantly, your hand went to reach for his, causing him to flinch. You took Namor’s hand between both of yours, softly tracing the palm lines on it. 
“Minamahal.”
His senses were being overloaded, the low volume of the OPM Playlist still playing in the background, though it felt as if it was echoing rather loudly in his ears.
Namor’s eyes met yours, he remembers what the word “mahal” means. But that couldn’t possibly be what you’re saying, right? Were you instead perhaps meaning another thing? (He was sure that mahal meant expensive as well, were you just messing with him and calling him expensive?)
One of your hands stopped playing with his and reached towards his face, caressing his cheek softly. You contemplated running a hand on his pointy ears. However, you decided you wanted to keep your hand intact with your body.
Namor could do nothing but stare at you, his free hand coming up to hold yours that was on his cheek, though he made no move to remove your hand. If you were to look closer, it was as if he was leaning into your touch. 
Your thumb softly grazed his upper cheek.
“Nagmamahal.”
With the way Namor talked fondly about his people, you couldn’t help but notice the love and adoration in his eyes. He truly loved his people and protected them with his whole heart. 
Even if Namor couldn’t fully understand what you were saying to him, he could still somewhat comprehend what you were trying to say.
Namor was not a child without love, he has loved and has been loved. He will continue to love and he will continue to be loved, you were sure of that.
To your and his surprise, his eyes fluttered close as he leaned into the warm touch of your hand against his damp cheek. The feeling was scorching against his cool skin, yet it brought comfort to him even so. 
A part of him wanted this moment to never end, the soft tunes of your mother tongue playing in the background, as you practically showered him with affection that you two had an unspoken agreement about.
Soon, however, you couldn’t help yourself.
The hand on his face traced his cheek softly, before it came and pinched it rather aggressively. 
Namor’s eyes snapped open as he suddenly experienced a rather painful pinch to the cheek. Your ninangs would be proud of you if they saw the red mark on his skin right now. You snickered, making kissy-faces at him.
“Bebeluvs~” He deadpanned at you, fully knowing the sound of your rather trickster voice.
“My sexy, sexy love!” You finished, laughing so much your stomach hurt. You knew that Namor probably wouldn’t get the reference, but you couldn’t help yourself from quoting none other than the queen herself, Kathryn Bernardo. 
You were still laughing, peeving Namor a bit. This caused him to pull away from your touch and some distance between the two of you. The laughter soon died in your throat, as you instantly sort of regretted the fact that you ruined the moment. Shet, maybe you should’ve maintained the wholesome moment just a bit longer.
You fully expected him to stand up and leave you there in the water again, already used to him doing it with the many, many times you’ve tried to trick him into saying rather comically funny words in your language. Namor could always figure you out, though it may be because of the way you haven’t been able to stop yourself from laughing each time.
To your surprise, he simply stayed there, a contemplative look on his face as he looked down at the water he was in. 
You cleared your throat, scooting closer to him once again. You opened and closed your mouth, unsure of what to say next now that you have feared you may have offended him. Namor’s voice soon filled the one-sided awkward silence left in the air.
“Your words… What did they mean?”
You beamed at him, jumping at the chance to answer. “They can all actually mean different things! ‘Iniirog’ for example can mea-” A single stare from Namor shut you up from overcomplicating the answer, though it did not stop you from grumbling about the complex meanings of the words.
“Uhm, well, generally, they all kinda mean…” You whispered the last part, suddenly feeling shy and embarrassed that you had even started all of this. 
Namor sighed heavily, staring at you in dismay by your sudden bashfulness that always seemed to appear out of nowhere. “Ka a'alé, speak up.” His body turned towards you more as he leaned his head down in order to listen more carefully.
You shakily let out a breath, fully preparing to face his rageful wrath yet again. 
(You were exaggerating, the most he’s ever done is splash water directly into your face. Though it did go straight to your eyes once, you never forgave him for that.)
“Uhm, what I meant to say was…” You were stalling again, nervously fiddling with your fingers on your lap, flexing them under the water. 
Namor sighed. “If you can’t say them to my face, why say them at a-”
“THEY ALL MEAN ‘BELOVED’!” 
You practically shouted at him, shocking him to his core. You swore you could feel the water suddenly shift. Oh no, what if the Talokanil have been watching you all this time and you just shouted at their king?! 
“Or… Haha… Other things as well.” 
At this point, you were just trying to fill in the rather thick silence in the air. “But uhm, they could all also mean beloved.”
Meanwhile, Namor stayed silent at your confession. Have you been whispering to him such intimate words of affection all this time?
“All those words… were you calling me ‘beloved’?” At this, you shook your head slowly, confusing him even more.
“.... Actually, the last part means something else.” You felt like you were hyperventilating at this point. Perhaps you’ve ruined your favorite OPM playlist forever, as you will always associate it with this moment.
“The… The last part means ‘loving’...” You weakly replied, not daring to meet his eyes. You feel like you’ve royally screwed up, banished from the ocean even. Goodbye, night swimming, you will be dearly missed.
You slowly looked, bracing yourself for his reaction. The scene made your jaw drop, and Namor’s face would have been priceless to you if the situation hadn’t called for it. 
The flusteredness on his face would’ve caught anyone off-guard. The way his eyebrows raised as the corner of his eyes pinched at the corners. His lips were slightly open, as if to say that he was too shocked to even close his mouth. 
Soon, however, Namor finally came to his senses. He finally realized what you had been trying to say to him all this time.
They had called him “the child without love” in their spitting, hateful language.
And you had called him such loving words in your native language, as if to imply that they were wrong.
When you scooted closer to him once more, he didn't flinch or pull away this time. You blinked at his movements, noting the way he slightly leaned onto you again.
“... Niib'oolal." was the only thing Namor said after a few minutes.
You’ve talked to him enough to know what that means.
You gleefully smiled at him, before clearing your throat and relaxing your posture.
“Psh, ako pa? Wala lang yun, K’uk’ulkan.”
The soft tunes of the OPM playlist from your phone continued playing in the air, and the cold feeling of the water soon came to feel like a warm embrace instead.
410 notes · View notes
nellycanwrite · 1 year
Note
I feel you because my finals are next week and I want to wish you good luck on your finals! Here are some stars as well to wish on! ⭐️⭐️⭐️
THANK YOU SO MUCH BESTIE LIKE FR I NEED TO WISH ON THOSE STARS TO REGAIN WHAT IS LITTLE OF WHAT IS LEFT OF MY SANITY HNNGGGGGG
DID YOU KNOW?
In His Timeless Love, Filipino!Reader had been reincarnated in another timeline but Namor didn't find her then.
In the gap between 1592 and 1758, Filipino!Reader had been reincarnated as a low-born indio (a pure-blood Filipino slave). Due to the nature of her status as a slave, she could not go as she pleased to the beaches and the sea. Despite this, she always took care of her fellow countrymen and offered her share of her rations just to feed them. Unfortunately, she died prematurely from abuse and starvation before she could have a chance to visit the sea.
Since I personally believe in karma, I intended her to be reborn as a rich insulares (A Philippine born Spanish citizen and noble with Filipino blood). Her good deeds from her past life had garnered her riches, but because of the extreme religious influence in Baclayon, Bohol at the time (1758), as well as her education in a conservative Catholic school for women, she was easily influenced by the Catholic doctrines and have seen "odd" creatures as demons, hence why she had called Namor a demonio when they had first met in this lifetime. But that did not stop her from frequenting the sea and hoping to see that strange creature before she died of a disease carried by the Spanish colonizers.
When Filipino!Reader reincarnated again, she almost died by the hands of Spanish friars as "karma" for her cursing Namor in that same faith. So to speak, her faith that she once used to exalt is the same faith that lead to her (almost) untimely death while being scorned as a demonio, the same name she had called Namor in her past life. Fortunately, Namor was there to save her just in time. But it all went full circle when her death was caused by betrayal from her fellow kin, the same reason she had died in her first lifetime.
So now you know >:DD!!
49 notes · View notes
ironemrys · 1 year
Text
I'm doing something 🤣 Idk if it'll contain romance or what or if it's just pure comedic bullshit idk 🤷 we'll see
Tumblr media
70 notes · View notes
theatreslave · 1 year
Text
BETA Reader wanted
Hey friends. So I'm working on a Namor x OC fic right now. Slow burn. Fully fleshed out tale about Namor and a loosly indigenous filipino OC.
I would appreciate a BETA reader who I can bounce ideas off of.
Ideally I want to write the whole fic before I start posting it here or FFN or Ao3.
So if you are interested please shoot me a message.
I appreciate it!
Tumblr media
11 notes · View notes
velvexr3d · 1 year
Text
If yall don't make a Namor x reader where the reader is Filipino I'm going to cry
10 notes · View notes
stuckybarton · 1 year
Text
Heads Under Water Extras I
Tumblr media
Summary: After everything that had happened in Wakanda, and the man who stole your heart, you had decided not to return to New York in fear for your life as well as that of your unborn children. Instead living your life away by the beach with your twins and one stormy night you were visited by the man who had vowed to look for you and take you back home. One way or another. Character: K'uk'ulkan/Namor x Atlantean Descendant! Filipino! Female Reader. OC Children (Alon and Amor) Word Count: 6,622 (i needed a good angst and happy ending in my life.) Chapter Warnings: Angst. Mention of Kidnapping. Mention of Abandonment. Happy Ending (cuz Aquapapi desurvs the world). New beginnings. Second Chances.
Series Masterlist || Masterlist || Join the Library (no longer do taglist you can just turn on notif here)
Water Under the Bridge
“Mama!” The sobs that escaped your son and daughter broke your heart as you held them close to you, their arms holding onto you for dear life.
In the years you had stayed back in your hometown, the various storms had come and go, but since your twins were born it was the first time they get to experience hand the violence of what a thunderstorm could be. The first that even had you worried about your wellbeing as you were staying in the little home you shared for the next twenty four hours.
The rising tides weren’t something you worried about as much, but the winds could become strong than the news would lead on at times. It was one of the many reasons why you still depended on Tony’s technology instead of the news’ weather forecast. You had several of your cousins sending you text to check on you three but you tried your best to assure each and every single one of them that you would be fine for the next few hours while the storm passes.
Everything you’ve endured in Wakanda was by far worse compared to this moment, this moment of chaos before peace and serenity. The life you had escaped from back in Wakanda—from Talokan.
“Did you know that light travels faster than sound?” You found yourself telling your twins, hoping it was good enough of a distraction from the thunder from outside.
“No it doesn’t!” It was your son, Alon that made the protest, eyes still watering from the unshed tears. He was at the stage in his childhood that he wants to always be right about something. But looking at him, you were greeted with glimpses of the man you loved—but had to escape from.
Alon was a spitting image of his father. Same brown eyes, sun-kissed tan skin, and the pointy ears. It scared you at times to look at him how more and more he was becoming the younger version of his father before your very eyes.
“Yes it does!” It was your daughter, Amor that contradicted her twin.
Your son might have your lover’s features, but Amor has her father’s personality through and through. From the way she talks to her Uncles and Aunts, to how she ensures that playtime with the younger member of the family would be fair for each and every single one involved. At a young age, it genuinely scared you the level of maturity she had without you even realizing.
“Then watch the skies, My Loves.”
As if on cue, the flash of light momentarily illuminated through the windows as the twins snuggled closer to you in the couch. You gently counted down to three before the thundering sound followed after. A smile on your face at the giggle and amazement from your twins, more so your daughter that was proven right.
“Will the thunder get to us?” You son asked, head looking up at you in wonder, ignoring his earlier statement as his curiosity was more of a priority.
“No it won’t.” You tried your best to reassure them both. “If the sound and the light go off at the same time, then yes, it might. But right now, there is a space between them both. So we’re safe here.” You kissed him on the forehead.
Proving your point even further, the flash of light appeared and with bated breath all three of you counted a few seconds before the sound echoed the weeping skies. The mix of cheers and wows from your children made the smile on your face bigger. It reminded you so much of your short stint in Wakanda, helping with teaching the young children about the beauty of science. Nothing truly beats being able to teach the young aspiring minds and helping them further with whatever path they may pave for themselves.
Peering towards the clock above the door it was past their bedtime. Without much of a hitch, you had lifted them both into your arms—a feat that you never truly realize was a problem until you realize the true source of your strength.
“I think it’s time for bed.” You announced, carrying them to their bedroom, ignoring the howls of the winds that continued to echo the living room and the protest that came from your children that continue to insist that they weren’t sleepy.
The unison of protest was left in deaf ear as you had continued to carry the twins up into your arms and bringing them both to their shared bedroom, away from the noise of the storm and away from the fear and curiosity that might peak their interest.  Placing them in their beds one at a time, you kissed their foreheads, singing a lullaby to drown out their continuous protest of still not sleepy yet even when it was already past their bedtime.
“Can you tell us more about Papa?” It was Amor that now grow curious.
Even after all that you had endured in Wakanda, with your former lover, and of the truth of your heritage, you had been open to them about their father, at least the existence of him. You had told them stories of his people, of the hardship that his people and he has been placed in. You had taught them in the best of your abilities the foundation of what the Talokan people had fought for, hoping they would also have the same principle when they grow up.
"His enemies called him Namor, for he was called El niño sin amor by them."
“What does that mean?”
“The boy without love.” You answered, memories of him telling you about the origin of the name, of the last impact it had on him and of the fight he continued to have for the sake of his people.
“But you love him right, Mama?”
Such question still had this impact on you and your sanity. You did love him, more than you would have ever believed yourself to be capable of giving. You loved him and when you realized the effect of your heritage had on him and his people, you chose to leave before he does anything that either of you would regret.
“I do.” You confirmed. “His people did, everyone that finally had come to understood all that hardship he had to endure to be where he was. His sacrifice means more to his people than he thinks it does.” You continued.
It took you awhile of pushing and pulling away from him to realize where he was coming from. The life and the reign he had on his people, the war he was willing to wage for the sake of his people. It made him no less of a man for you, it made you love him more and more each day because of it. It breaks your heart even as years has passed since you've last stepped foot in Wakanda or in New York for the matter, to not be with him, to not be by his side, and for him not to see the children you have both created together grow to be the very child you both so wished to be growing up.
“Will we ever see him, Mama?” It was now Alon that inquired, the octopus covered blanket covering him up to his neck now.
"I don't know." You spoke honestly, you did not have the power to know if he would be welcoming of you and of your children should he find out about them. The best thing that you could do now is to protect them from him and the underlying but still understandable hatred for the surface dwellers. You, as much as the truth came about, were still part of said surface dwellers. "But what is important to me right now is you and your sister are both safe and sound. You both are loved by your many family that are here. They might not be like your Papa, but we are trying our best to give you both the life you deserve."
"Okay, Mama." They both said in unison, eyes slowly growing heavy and it was all the sign you needed to let them sleep.
“Get some sleep, if the storm ends in the morning we can walk around the beach.” You promised to which they cheered more tired at this point. “I love you, My Babies.” You whispered, kissing them both in their foreheads, opening the nightlight, and closing the door behind you.
In the stillness of the little home you had created for yourself, you had allowed yourself a moment to sob. The raging storm that continued had masked the pain you had bubbled up every single time your children ask about their father. The tears of what could have been between you and the man, of the life he had promised you and of the life you were more than willing to give him. It was all ruined because of one simple truth about your life and about your heritage that you knew nothing about.
In the howls of the winds, something else had caught your ears. A hum, soothing the momentary pain in your chest the more to listened. The sobs halted as you held comfort in the rare calmness in your mind and in your soul. As if having an out of body experience, you watched your feet move in their own accords. The memories of your visit in Talokan with the man who had vowed to make you his Queen filled your head, lingering in the furthest parts of your memory—a memory you had tried so hard to suppress.
As your hand slowly turned the knob of the front door, you felt the sudden race of your heartbeat as you were welcomed with a gust of the thunderous winds. The rains splattering your skin as you could barely see anything in the beach, the rain making it close to impossible. But in the heaviness of the rain, it was the thunder that had showcased the danger behind the rain. The light had momentarily showed three individuals standing under the pouring rain.
All the color had drained from your face at the recognition of who they were. The siren no longer controlling you but the sight had led you to remain where you stood.
“Namor.” You spoke, firmly as you could in the moment of terror. How did he find you? How did he realize that you were hear when you did your best to hide from him.
You had always believed nothing could be darker than the clear night skies, but you were left to be wrong as you looked into his eyes. How the darkness of his eyes the moment you had refused to call him by his name and of the other names you had once fondly called him during your time together. Ku'uk'ulkan. In Ajawo. In Amado.
"It's time to come home, In Reina."
You felt your heart drop at his intentions then and there. You shook your head, refusing to believe that it would come to this. No, not like this. Not when you children were too young. You took a measured step back, hoping to plan something on the fly, hoping to give yourself enough space away from the man. But you plan was foiled as Namora swiftly had her spear pointed at your neck, challenging you with her eyes to take another step. Standing still, you felt your hands shaking and knowing there was no other way around this. He has found you and he will not leave without you—and your children.
"Talokan ma' K'abéet jump'éel reina fugitiva."
You winced at the venom of Namora's words, the pain that you had caused her was far too evident. In your time in Wakanda and Talokan, you had become closer to her, a friendship that you wouldn’t believe would bloom between you and her. But you had left and never turned back. She was hurt beyond repair by your decision not to comeback, more so without any explanation to her or to her cousin about the matter. You deserved it, but it was merely life and death for you that you chose to be selfish in the moment and it had saved your life.
"Namora." Your lover's words held finality and Namora had no other choice but to pull her spear away from you. The frown still marring her features.
K'uk'ulkan whose eyes were still on you held you in an emptiness you were uncertain if he always has or if you were the root cause of it. Years had passed, you had seen the changes of the world around you but looking at him, looking at the lack of change in his features woke you of the reality of who you had fallen so madly in love with.
"I'm not going with you. There is a reason why I left Wakanda, why I didn't return to New York just like what I have once told you." You spoke, you tried you best to not look into his eyes, but you failed immeasurably so.  "I have a life here, far from the threats and tribulation you continue to make toward me and the people that I love and you continue to call as savages."
"What life?" He inquired, insulting humor lacing his tone. "A life where your family stop by each and every single day trying their best to check up on you. A life where all you do is stare into the waters that you once had feared like the plague? The waters I had once helped you to overcome?"
“A life without you!”
Your words held finality and the thunders grew louder from the background. You could not risk your life, nor the life of your children. You had seen the bloodshed that came with his people and the wars they were more than willing to start for the sake of their Kingdom. You had known of what he had once done to Wakanda for the sake of his war with the surface dwellers, it wasn’t beneath him to choose his people over you and over your children if it were to come to it.
"Four years, Mi Reina. I had given you four years to come back to me. But I am done waiting and you will come back to me one way or another."
The finality of his words made you want to run away, question him for what he planned on doing to you but it was Attuma that was quick to stop you as he lifted you up into his shoulders. You couldn’t hold it as you screamed and thrashed against the man’s shoulders, trying anything and everything to get away from his hold. The blood curdling screams even in the chaos of the thunderstorm was loud enough to wake your children. The sound of the bedroom door opening had you halting and watched the sheer horror of the scene that fell upon them. You in the shoulders of a being that wasn’t truly human.
"Mama?" It was Alon that looked the most fearful between the two as your daughter Amor screamed at Attuma to let you go, going as far as charging at him and hitting him the best as she could.
"Stay in your room!" You screamed but as you turned towards K'uk'ulkan, you could see the thunder in his eyes as realization of your reason for running has now becoming clearer than ever before.
“They have my eyes.” He spoke so quietly staring between your crying son and your fighting daughter that Attuma tried his best to avoid hurting. “You took my children away from me, Y/N!” He roared, it practically shook the ground and had even Amor in tears because of it.
"Please don't take them, In Amado. Spare them, they're just kids." You sobbed now. Your resolve to remain fearless crumbling at the danger that it might have towards your children.
"Take the children." K'uk'ulkan had ordered Attuma and Namora.
You were let go, throwing into the much harsher hands of your lover as you watched your children try their best to escape both Namora and Attuma. Pulling something out of their pouches, you had watched a far too familiar plant in their possession.
"They can breathe underwater!" You screamed, halting both Talokans from doing what they intended on doing to your children. "They got it from me." You whispered at the shame of your heritage was always and will forever be ingrained in your children just as much as it did to you.
"You have taken four years away from me, taken away my children from me, and you have lied to me over and over again and made me out to be a fool." He held onto your jaws, moving you until you were looking at him. The proximity even in the situation still brought a shiver down your spine. The pain of his grip brought tears to fall further from your eyes. "Tell me why I should not kill you for what you did to me?"
“My children will not live without their mother.” You struck a far too familiar nerve in him, but it was for your children’s sake.
“And now…they will not live without their father.”
It was in the middle of the night, as the storm grows louder that all five of you descended back down to the waters. How even in your tears, you had reassured your children as they tried their best to get away from Namora and Attuma’s grasp that everything was alright.
But never once did it escape your lips that this man, the very man that now held onto your arm tightly was the same man you told stories about. The father that they had always hoped to have in their life.
~
“Where are we, Mama?”
In the silence of what was now their chambers in Talokan, it was was Alon and his curiosity that broke the silence since your arrival. You could only look helplessly at the trauma your choice has done to your children. Both shaken still for being taken in the middle of the night to an unknown world that was far from what they have always known their whole life. Thrown into a room with guards posted to keep watch over you in the off chance you would escape—something you couldn’t do without compromising your children’s safety in the process.
This was not the life you would have hoped for your children, not the way you would have hoped they would meet their father. Never in a millions year would you have hoped it would be under this circumstance.
“Talokan, your father’s home.” You spoke honestly. In a perfect world, you would have love for them to see the beauty of the nation had, untouched by the people of the surface world.
“And your new home.” You winced as the familiar prickle that covered the back of your neck because of his voice. No matter the circumstance, he always had this power over you, the shiver that always runs down your spine from just his voice.
You felt his presence long before you felt his touch. The way his hand had slowly moved from your hand towards the column of your neck before finally settling onto your cheeks. It was as if still enchanted, you found yourself turning to look at him face to face, the gentle warmth that was far from the man that had dragged you and your twins away in the middle of the night.
“Don’t touch Mama!” Amor screamed, rushing in between the both of you, pushing the man as far away from you as possible. You had to pull your daughter into your arms as the guards had immediately pointed their weapons towards your daughter.
“Stand down.” K'uk'ulkan ordered the guards as your hold on your daughter slowly loosen at the reassurance as they finally did as they were told. “No one will raise their weapon at my children and the Queen.” He ordered to which the guards had accepted without an ounce of hesitation.
The guards were eventually ordered to give you the privacy that you genuinely craved in the moment but could never have. Taking a large step away from the man, you found yourself sitting on the bed, pulling even your son into your arms in fear of what else could have to the three of you if you do not play along with whatever the man wants. No matter how much you try to convince yourself that you should be brave for the sake of your children, fear was lingering through your very bone, of what the man could be capable of doing to your children just to get to you.
He walked towards you, slowly and measured in his steps. You had felt your children hold onto your even tighter still. It was like a predator stalking their prey with the man, his eyes boring holes through you but as they fell towards the kids, there was sadness. From the darkness that loomed it had transformed into a soft tender look that you had only witnessed from him in the rare interactions he would have with the children in Talokan and even in Wakanda that have grown to love him (though he refuse to admit as such).
“Do you know who I am?” He inquired, voice soft and gentle now, the softness that felt far too intimate for anyone else but you.
You had watched the twins shake their heads, their hold on you still firm as they refused to trust a man that brought them to an unfamiliar location. A location they were now to treat like their own home from now on.
“I go by many names, but my people know me as K'uk'ulkan.” He began smiling almost amused as you both watched your children test the name out in their own tongues. “But I am Yuum to you both from now on.” He continued.
"What does that mean?" Alon had asked, curiosity peaking at something he does not know.
"Father." He translated.
“You are not our father!” Amor spat, pulling away from your hold to stand in front of the man. The softness slowly disappearing from his features as despair was there to replace it—of the action of your own doing it seems. “Papa would have never hurt Mama like you did! Mama said Papa is a kind man! He is loved by everyone for his kindness, you are not kind!”
You had refused to meet his gaze now. You had ingrained his kindness and love into their minds only for him to ruin in a single moment and for once you are not to blame for his actions. It could have been any other way, but he chose to use violence and show the cruelty he was capable of unleashing if it doesn’t go his way.
“Amor, please. He is your Papa. There is just a misunderstanding.” You hoped that placating your daughter for now would be enough, it was in moments like this that you remember how much she was just like his father, every mannerism he would have—down to his temper especially in moments like this.
“Amor?” K'uk'ulkan’s voice held amusement at the momentary respite of you finally calling your daughter by her name.
“It was only fitting to name her for what we both had once.” You explained, eyes looking towards your daughter as her dangerously daggered glare was still fixated on her own father. The love you had hoped he would come to believe he was capable of having for himself and for the people around him to have for him when all was said and done, but it was no longer here or there for you to tell him as such.
“And nothing had changed, no matter what had transpired. I was more than willing to take you back whatever the circumstance.” He spoke, hand holding onto Amor’s own, but she was quick to snatch her hand away and make her way back towards you. “I had waited for you, hoped that you would come back like you had always promised you would.”
“And you best course of action when I didn’t come back was to force me here, to force my children here? All because I broke my promise?”
“Our children!” He spat voice raising. “The heirs to my throne, the hope of Talokan for a better future.”
"But your plan against my people, both from the land and of Atlantis is not a better future." You spat. "You plan to kill the family I have back home, my cousins, my uncle and aunts that had been there for me when I had no one else to help me. You would kill the sister and brother that I never thought I would have in Atlantis just because."
“For Talokan, I would do that and more.” The echo of his voice was the final straw as the sob escape from Alon’s lips. No matter what it was, he would always have this gentle heart and any argument, may it be between children or between adults, he fears arguments and raised voice like a plague— K'uk'ulkan did not make it any better at this point.
It was the weighted silence with only your son’s sobs that got you to finally look him straight in the eye, the regret that came in his eyes as he watched his son sob against your chest. This was not how it should have been—he knows it but it was far too late to take back his words.
"Now you have your answer for why I left." You spoke.
"And you and my children will stay here until you think otherwise."
~
It had been weeks now since your return to Talokan and the arrival of your twins to their new home. Slowly but surely you had watched your children integrate into the life of the people of Talokan. It had been hard language wise, but the teachers that knew English had been helpful in making sure they could communicate better with the people they interact with.
The twins have also slowly but surely soften in their hesitation of being in a place far from what they once known. They had garnered a lot of new friends in the nation, and the most daunting change had been towards their former captors, Namora and Attuma who they now affectionately call as Tita and Tito respectively, you could genuinely say the same could be said about the right hands of your lover, the softness and genuine fondness they now share for the twins and the overprotectiveness only an Uncle and Aunt would show. It was a relief to know there were someone like the two of them to be there for the twins when you could not.
The same could not be said towards their father, K'uk'ulkan. Any chance that the man had free time on his hand he would visit the twins, but they tried their best to avoid him, hiding behind you, or Attuma and Namora if the opportunity was given. But in the rare chance that they had no one to hide behind, they had been respectful out of your own request to them, but nothing more. No affections of any kind, and you know it breaks K'uk'ulkan every single time.
It took time for him to trust you on your own again, but in the weeks of your stay in Talokan he had finally granted your request to return to the surface. You had wanted to assure your family about you and your children’s whereabouts and to hopefully say goodbye as you come to accept your place in Talokan from now on. You’ve tried your best to keep them in the dark about your exact location—in fear of the nation being discovered and ruined by the surface dwellers but reassured them time and time again that you and your children were in good hand now with K'uk'ulkan. It took a lot of reform out of you to listen to them scold you for disappearing for weeks without any word but you understood that it was their worry for you above anything else. The fear of you following in your mother’s steps scared them more than anything.
By the waters you had known K'uk'ulkan was present, watching and listening. You had reassured every single member of your family that remained that you and your children were well taken care off by the man. Reassured them that this time everything will be alright. Your love for both the man and your children would be enough to make you stay with him just as much as his for all of you would make you want to stay now. It was enough to reassure them even as much as it didn't for you.
You had returned, keeping your promise. But the fear of what K'uk'ulkan would do to your children still in the back of your head as you descended back to the water in the middle of the night when no one was watching.
Since your return back to Talokan, you had been moved to the far too familiar bedroom, sharing it with the King and the implication it might have for everyone to see and often jest about. Sharing the same bed, the very same one long before you had left. Everything remained the same. The same murals etched the walls, the only difference was the images of you and of your children joining him in the stories painted in the walls. The love that K'uk'ulkan would rarely profess was out in the open for you to see.
It gave you the push to slowly try. Talking to him, even if it was with concerns to Talokan and if there were infrastructures that needed help in building, you tried your best to be useful and now more open to the man. You tried with your children as well, talking to them about the first time they had seen their father all those weeks ago was not how he truly was, you had tried your best to make them understand the situation and thankfully it was slowly working.
Slowly watching them no longer hiding behind Namora or Attuma at the instance of his arrival to them finally calling him Papa for the man to see and try his best to hide the emotions building up for the change.
“Yuum” You repeated to your twins as they had asked you to translate Papa for them. A smile on your face as you three had spent the day by the endless halls of his kingdom, exploring as much as you were trying to remember the memories you had with the man during your initial stay in the past.
"Yum!" The twins said in unison almost earning a giggle out of you. It takes them time to speak your lover's language but they were trying. Already knowing how to make basic conversations with the kids of Talokan.
"Yuum." You repeated again.
"Yuum!" The repeated again with giggle in their voices.
"Very good." You praised them both, kissing them on the top of their heads and halting in your steps as the man himself comes as if being called by your children's glee.
"In reina." He acknowledged eyes falling towards your children. "In orgullo yéetel ki'imak óolil."
His words made your heart flutter, the way he looks at your children it was as if you were looking at yourself. In the weeks even as he kept his distance, he always looked at them, with a love only a father could truly give to their children. But even with the distance and time, he treated them as such still. It was the same look you have seen in your stepfather even after knowing you were not his blood, he loved you still. Like a ten ton truck, you were struck with the reality of your guilt, of taking this opportunity away from him, pulling him away from the chance to this life, of the life of your twins in his own.
"Yuum..." You smiled kissing your kids on top of their heads again as they tested the words again in front of the man himself and the smile on his lips only made it all the more bittersweet.
It was the first time for them to call him as such.
"Tita Namora must be sparring around this time, do you want me to bring you to her while I talk to Papa?" You inquired to which had the twins agreeing, they had somehow grown a fond interest in watching Namora practicing and it was something she herself loved to show off (though she would never admit as much in front of you).
“I’ll take them.” K’uk’ulkan had volunteered to which brought hesitation on your children’s faces.
“Let Yuum take you to your tita, and I’m sure he will let you two watch the sharks swim by on your way.” You smiled winking towards K’uk’ulkan hoping he knows what to do. It was the first of many steps needed to be taken for everyone’s sake.
At the excitement in their voices, you had watched your twins now practically hold onto your lover already talking about the kinds of shark they hope to see on their way.
“We will talk in our chambers, In Reina.” He instructed to which you could only nod and watch a now overwhelmed K’uk’ulkan guide the twins to their destination.
"Be good to Papa and Tita for me, okay?" You called out to which had the twins nod before swimming alongside their father to where Namora was.
In the moment away from your children and away from the man, you had an opportunity to think. To think of the fours years that you had been away from K'uk'ulkan, of all the pain and suffering you had placed upon yourself because of the fear of your heritage, of the self-imposed hell you not only have placed upon yourself but towards your children that seemed so meaningless now as you've witness the longing the man had for your children, the love and veneration that the people had for them even after knowing of your bloodline. It all seemed so meaningless and uncalled for the more time you've spent back in Talokan with everyone.
It didn't take you long to return to your chambers you share with the man. In the weeks since you've returned, never once did he touch you. Not for the lack of trying in his part, but out of respect for you and that was what you had appreciated so much out of him. But days go by that you craved him, his warmth and the comfort that only his touch could give you. But he had made it clear from the start that it was only in your word, of your willingness to fully come back to him were you allowed to have his touch.
As time goes by, you were slowly destroying your own resolve.
"In Reina." The way he had called you his Queen long ago before you even knew of your heritage, of your love for the man, his certainty for your title, of what you were to him—it was so overwhelming when it comes to him.
You closed your eyes for a moment, savoring how even in your absence, you were still given such a privilege of the title. You savored how the waters moved and the man now stood in front of you as you opened your eyes and his hand resting on your shoulders, thumbs drawing small circles against your exposed collar bone.
“In Ajawo.” You acknowledged him finally having the strength to face him.
His eyes, smoldering browns stared right back at you and all you wanted to do was melt into a puddle before him. His effect on you still held strong just as much as the fear of what his power had over you.
"You wanted to talk, now you have me."
"Am I not interrupting you of any of your duties?"
"For you, nothing is too important that I couldn't postpone."
You had blushed at his confession, the humor of your memories of him being practically dragged by either Attuma or Namora away from you because of his duties all those years ago. It was never any different now in this very moment. The hidden power you still had over him.
"I wanted to know what will happen to my children now."
"Our children shall be taught of the way of Talokan, and when they get older they will perform the same duties as you and I in the council."
"Even if they are just like me? Bearing the blood of the lost people of Atlantis?" You questioned now, knowing of the last conversation you had with him in the past and what he had once planned on doing to them when the time comes.
"I had spoken with anger more than anything else." He admits, eyes refusing to meet your own for once. "I was angry at what your father had done to your mother, of the curse that it had fallen upon you because of it. But I've learned now, of talking with the people of your blood that they are not like your father but are much of a peaceful people like our own. I know it was because of my own words and of my own action that pushed you away. But I want to make up for it, for your sake as well as that of my children."
You shook your head at his words, it took some time but you understood where he had been coming from. His people came first before anything else. He was pushed into a corner that he was uncertain what the right choice could be.  He made a decision, it meant there would be consequences for it, just as much as you did with your own. It was now a matter of what either of you could do to make things right after all was said and done in the moment.
"And I had spoken with fear above all the emotions that I have felt at the time. My love for you wasn't as strong back then to make me stay."
"Is it now?"
"Yes." You spoke, the weight of the world lifted from your shoulders at your confession. "You helped me in facing my fears, you made me feel beautiful than what I truly am. But the most you have ever done for me that made me love you for all that had happened between us was our children, you gave me two angels that I would die to ensure that their lives are protected from any sorts of harm, you gave me a family I had never thought I would ever have in my life. You gave me all the love that I one day hope I could give back, even just a fraction."
"In Reina, all I want is for you to stay, for you and my children to finally stay that is what I could ever hope for. What I need from now on. I can forget about any disputes from other nations if it means making you three stay."
"Then we will stay." You spoke with finality before moving closer to the man and pulling him in for a kiss. "For as long as you would have me and my children, we will stay."
"Then you will all stay by my side, forever."
===
translation:
In Ajawo = My King
In Amado = My Beloved
In Reina = My Queen
Talokan ma' K'abéet jump'éel reina fugitiva. = Talokan Does not need a runaway Queen.
Yuum = Father
Tito = Uncle
Tita = Aunt
In orgullo yéetel ki'imak óolil = My Pride and Joy
451 notes · View notes
mrs-lockley · 1 year
Text
The Little Mermaid AU
Alright everyone, as promised, here is a preview of the Little Mermaid AU! It’s still in the works and I’m hoping to have it up by the end of the year, but I can’t make any promises. Feedback is welcome!
Pairing: Namor x Filipina (Kapampangan)!Sirena!fem!Reader
Wiping at your eyes, you turn back to the shore and find the man speaking to the spirits. Even in the dim moonlight, you catch a glimpse of his face, his dark eyes full of emotion and grief.
Slowly, you reach for the sampaguita flowers in your hair and cradle them in your hands. One by one, you sing quietly to yourself as you place the flowers in the water. You linger for a few moments, your fingers running over the pendant on your chest as the water guides them to the beach. 
“Patawad na,” you breathe. I’m sorry.
With a final prayer, you return to the sea. 
On the beach, a soft hand reaches for the jasmine flowers. Dark eyes look to the horizon in search of the one who brought them, but the only answer given were the quiet waves lapping at the shore. 
Gently, the man with the winged ankles places the white flowers on the sand, creating a trail from the grave and towards the spirit’s old home before disappearing into the water.
The only evidence of his arrival is soon washed away by the rising tide of the ocean.
70 notes · View notes
bellonalabelle · 1 year
Text
Art and Face Claim of Filipino Goddess Reader: Bulawan✨
I'll probably write more about NamorXFilipino Goddess Reader so Here's an artwork for y'all.🌸
Tumblr media Tumblr media
59 notes · View notes