#the biggest terrorist formation in the world wants to kill every single one of us yay! | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

aloevverified · 6 years

Text

ABIONA (interlude 1) - “THIS JUST FEELS RIGHT”

mcu character(s) T’Challa “Black Panther” Udaku, Nakia, Shuri, Ayo, T’Chaka pairing Black Panther x black!reader format series | part 1 – part 2 – part 3 – part 4 – part 5 – part 6 warning We’re going back in time and we got some fluff, some more fluff and basically only fluff and an entire backdrop to why T’Challa fell for you in the first place and how you came to be blessed with Abiona as a daughter (read: implied sex scenes) word count 8.9k

summary Both you and T’Challa are struggling with old feelings and memories resurfacing, making your co-parenting situation more confusing than ever. How much longer can you keep your relationship platonic when Abiona reminds you of your past together?

Her laughter filled his body with joy as she recounted another anecdote about her recent War Dog mission.

“You just can’t keep yourself out of trouble,” he said, mouth twitching of smiling too much as he sat inside the aircraft that flew over Wakanda’s Golden city.

When they were younger, Nakia always found a way to get them in trouble. She convinced him to sneak out of the place for nightly explores near the river tribe lands which usually ended with them being caught by a group of guards. At the palace, his father scolded him in a bright new vocabulary every time.

“What fun is it if I keep myself out of trouble?!”

Nakia raised an eyebrow, grinning from ear to ear. Her projected face glowed like a torch in the catacombs. She looked so happy and at peace.

“Where are you now?”

“On the road,” she stated before pinching her lips. “I’m being transferred to Nigeria.”

He leaned closer to her projection at his wrist. The news about terrorist groupings kidnapping and killing innocent people in the north of the country had reached his ears earlier this week. He had even discussed it with her.

“Where exactly?” His brows furrowed as she kept her gaze down, not wanting to form the answer he already knew. “It’s dangerous, Nakia.”

She looked up with a sigh.

“Every country in the world is dangerous,” she said with a wave of her hand as if his words were just another annoyance to her, “besides there’s nothing a War Dog can’t handle.”

Playful as she sounded, she only reminded him what he had lost when she made the choice to become a War Dog. How much he relished the thought of Nakia doing what she always wanted to do, his feelings for her never really ebbed away.

“When are you coming home?”

“I already told you,” she sighed. He had asked too many times before, but he still hoped every time. “People are in need of help, T’Challa, and my heart needs this.”

The desperation in her words insisting him to understand vibrated too loud, too clear. He understood her desire to help people. How much his heart sang her name, he’d never make her stay if it wasn’t her own choice, even when he wanted to beg every single time they spoke.

“I don’t know what you like about the outside world,” he started as Ayo steered the aircraft through the shield. The view changed from city to jungle. “I just boarded this ship, and I already want it to return home.”

“That will not be possible, your Highness,” Ayo snickered with a toothy smirk. “I got orders from my King.”

“Where is your father dragging you to this time?”

Nakia didn’t hide the giggle in her question.

“Uganda,” he groaned. Both women were taken too much pleasure in his discontentment. “He has a hard time settling some UN.”

His father usually managed to brush off any UN questions brought to their country, but since his latest diplomatic visit to Kenya, he called on the regular to complain about the UN’s persistence to have Wakanda display more commitment within their projects in East-Africa.

“Our King is growing old,” Nakia said with a teasing smile. “He needs his son’s support.”

“He needs me to do his bidding,” he scoffed softly. “That’s it.”

Ayo snorted as she turned her head to him.

“We’ll be arriving in fifteen minutes so make sure to remove that scowl before we land.”

He lifted a hand in front of his mouth as he eyed her with squinted eyes.

“You’re having a good day, Ayo?”, he finally said smug. “You got Aneka to like you again.”

“I even got a goodbye kiss,” she whispered with a wink before pointing her chin to Nakia’s projection. “What about you?”

His face dropped in a beat. Why did he confide in her and Okoye again?

“Oh, T’Challa, don’t be annoyed,” Nakia laughed as she held a hand in front of her mouth. “We all know you do your parents’ bidding too well.”

He opened his mouth and closed it again.

He couldn’t really disagree with her.

***

He and Ayo descended the Royal Talon Fighter which appeared to be a basic private jet to anyone who looked at it. It soon would lift into the air and make its way back to Wakanda. His father already walked his direction with open arms. Nailah, his personal guard, followed in his tow.

“My King,” Ayo said as she crossed her arms in front of her body.

His father responded with a warm smile.

“You look anew since the last time I saw you.”

“I started my day well.”

His father raised his eyebrows in question.

“Baba,” he said with a nod, hiding his hands behind his back.

His father’s hand cupped his cheek.

“I can see it on your face already.”

He pushed his lips into a smile as he angled his face away from his father’s hand. How much he tried to keep his face unreadable, every single person could tell what his mind thought.

“And still you bring me here,” he muttered under his breath, all the while cursing the traiter that was his own face as he followed Nailah and Ayo to the black Audi parked at the side of the landing track.

He opened the car door in the back for his father to get in. As he walked around the vehicle and took his seat, Nakia’s words floated in his mind like a loud, unstoppable echo.

“Let’s hear it,” he said quickly while Nailah started the engine.

“Uganda is trying to start an agricultural project led by the UN and want to use the river that has its source in our territory.”

He graced his index finger and thumb over his stubble beard to meet at his chin as he looked outside the window. The traffic ahead was packed with white taxi vans and moved forward at a slow pace.

“Not the commuter jam,” Nailah sighed in disdain as she glanced at the digital clock. The trip to their residence inner Kampala would take longer than expected.

“Why make this more difficult than needed?” He turned to face his father. “The river flows through their country. Why not use it without our involvement?”

“They want to connect this project to our farms near the borders,” he explained, “so our crops can benefit from it too.”

“Something we rather not have,” Ayo said firm.

“That’s not our King’s biggest worry,” Nailah whispered to her.

He inched his brows at Nailah’s words. What could be a bigger worry than exposing their country in that way? His father let out a big sigh, rubbing his hand over the side of his face.

“There’s this one officer who doesn’t take no for an answer,” his father started with a tired face. “By Bast, when I tell you she drives me insane!”

“Is it the one with the ‘we need to be one front’ argument,” he inquired with a huff, remembering his father desperate calls where he released his mind from frustration. “The UN does know how to bring clear arguments to the table.”

His father flicked his hand in the air while gazing out the window. Motorbike taxis flashed by in a hurry. At least, they were reaching their destination at a normal speed.

“She means to say African countries need to stand together.”

He understood the meaning of the woman’s words, but it wasn’t easy to rally behind them when Wakanda wasn’t just any African country. He tried to make that clear to Nakia whenever she argued that Wakanda’s seclusion policies needed to change. His father and former Kings had made a choice to hide to protect themselves and he believed it to be the right choice as well.

“The woman doesn’t know the particulars of our country anyway,” he said.

“I agreed on an outreach project in Nigeria because of her.”

The car slammed to a halt. He spread his arm over his father’s chest to keep him from hitting his face against the front seat where Nailah made an obscene gesture to the car driver in front of her.

“You have?”, Ayo exclaimed, twisting in her seat to look at his father with wide eyes.

“Believe me,” Nailah said in anger, “I’m as surprised as you.”

His father clicked his tongue at her statement, though he didn’t reprimand her for her blaming words like he usually did. Who was this UN officer? What had she told his father to change his stance on social aid within the African continent?

“If Wakanda is involved in Nigeria,” he started with furrowed brows, “we could offer Uganda some help too.”

His father shook his head brisk in answer.

“We are a third-world country to the world, Son, do not forget. If we keep offering aid, countries will keep asking for it.”

What was going on in his father’s mind? Why go in on an offer if he knew what consequences the agreement held?

“What do you need me for if you already made up your mind?”, he snapped in a low tone.

“I’m not sure if I made up my mind.” His father pressed his lips, a subtle frown showing in his brow. “I heard some rumors about the woman recently.”

***

The commuter jam had been even worse this morning. Nailah and Ayo dropped him and his father in front of the Food & Agricultural Organization office half an hour later than expected. The building was compact, raised in orange-colored bricks. At the right side of the entrance, the bushy leaves of small trees shed their shadows on the security grilled windows.

He let his father step inside first. At the entrance hall, he found you awaiting their arrival. You wore a colorful printed two-piece suit, of which the bright yellow accents accentuated your brown skin with a glow. Your lips inched in a smile the moment you set eyes on his father.

“King T’Chaka,” you said in French, arms open in greeting. “Your Majesty, Your Grace.”

Your voice had teased over the words with a subtle laughter.

“No need for flattery, child,” his father answered in the same language with a shake of his head, but he smiled all the same.

You took his father’s hands and beamed as you spoke.

“It’s good to see you again.” Another chuckle left your lips before tilting your head with a raised brow. “I was afraid I had scared you away after our last meeting.”

“It takes more to scare me away,” his father laughed, “even when you do chase me like an ostrich at times.”

He shifted his gaze from his father to you and back to his father. Was his father playing an act, because he surely changed his sentiment since yesterday. Or he simply hid his frustration well?

“I see you brought company too,” you said in a clear voice, offering him a hand. “I’m [Y/N] [Y/L/N], senior UN officer, mainly in charge of the East African Community but I oversee most inter-African projects within the UN.”

“Uhm…” He shook your hand, searching for words because your eyes had a depth so deep he felt like he was balancing on the edge not to fall. “My name... I’m… I’m T’Challa. Udaku.”

You lifted your brows up with a grin as you glanced at his father for a brief.

“I hope you meant to say Prince T’Challa Udaku of Wakanda.”

“Yes?”

“Never forget to mention your title when greeting someone here,” you stated. Your brows furrowed near the bridge of your nose with a lively expression. “It gives you standing where you have none yet.”

His forehead wrinkled as he looked at you in surprise.

“I would have thought his Majesty would have taught his son by now,” you said to his father in a chuckle. “Follow me, please, gentlemen.”

You turned on your heels, making your way to the back of the building as he and his father followed. He leaned closer to his father while keeping his eyes on your back.

“You could have warned me she’s relentless in her words, Baba,” he whispered in his native tongue.

“I’m also relentless in the number of languages I speak,” you answered instead of his father without a look his direction.

His cheeks flushed with warmth, especially when his father’s open mouth formed laughter at your words. You stopped in front of the elevators, pushing the button to call one down. A cheeky smile played on your lips when you looked over your shoulder, and he quickly closed his gaping mouth.

“Let us be warned, my Son,” his father said when they stepped inside the elevator. “There might be nothing this woman can’t do.”

You closed your eyes for a moment, a smile adorning your face.

“I’m yet to persuade you for a commitment within the EAC, King T’Chaka, “you answered when you opened your eyes to catch him staring at you.

He quickly shifted his eyes away before scraping his voice.

“What commitment are we talking about exactly?”

The elevator doors opened with a soft ring.

“A sustainable micro-irrigation project at the border with your country,” you explained, switching back to French. The tone of your voice had changed into seriousness but soon trailed back to that playfulness. “I’ll be sure to fill you in with all the details necessary to get your father’s signature once we take our seats.”

His father scoffed at her words but sounded amused more than anything else when he spoke.

“What will your strategy be this time, [Y/N]?”

“I never have a strategy, Your Majesty, only an objective,” you stated in a bright voice, “to have Wakanda agree with me today.”

***

You paced the front of the room in a slow pace, lacing your words with such easiness and confidence as you went through your presentation. The project sounded promising, but he wasn’t sure if his father should invest money and manpower in these micro-irrigation constructions if only to make a tactical move for the country’s security. There was still a risk exposing Wakanda’s secrets along the way. And yet, he found himself making mental notes to improve the engineering of the dams as you looked at him with a smile on your lips.

When you finished, you handed his father another loose-leaf folder before asking the Ugandan representative to follow you outside.

“I’ll hear what you decide, Your Majesty,” you said while making your way to the door, “but for time’s sake, you can just skip to the last page and sign straightaway. You’ll find me in my office.”

You closed the door with a grand smile which painted your face with softer lines, and he chuckled beyond his control. He turned his head to his father who kept his face in a solemn stare at the files in front of him.

“I can see why you she frustrates you,” he said with a smile. “She has an unswerving approach in her work.”

“Yes,” his father responded meaningful, “relentless as you said, but I’m yet to see firm actions.”

“You’re still considering agreeing, Baba.” He shook his head as he took the folder from his father and turned the pages. “The project is heartfelt, quite ambitious too, but I’m not convinced we should take it upon us. It might give away too much.”

His father covered his mouth with a hand as he stared at the blueprint for the dams.

“We’ll be able to keep our technologies under the radar, T’Challa.” His father stood from his seat while removing the glasses on his nose. With his index finger, he pointed at the white screen still projecting the presentation. “I only wonder how she thinks to execute this proposal. She is known to nestle herself in too much confidence which makes me think she’s overbearing her words.”

The project eyed too ambitious and the UN put its chance of success mostly in another country’s hands. With his father revealing the rumors he had heard about you, he understood why he was ready to accept this project.

“You want to sign to see it fail.”

His father faced him again and grasped his eyes.

“I’d rather not, you know that,” he said in a low voice, “but if it would fail, the better for Wakanda. No one will ask for our help after that.”

Those words rang too much truth, even when he could already hear Nakia’s objections. As future leader of Wakanda, he was bound to make decisions not every Wakandan could agree with.

“It’s a good tactic.”

He turned the bundle of papers to reveal the last page. His father grasped the pen on the table between his fingers and hovered it above the line where his signature would go before he lowered it again.

“You do it, Son,” he said, offering him the pen.

He took it, staring at his father, not sure what he should do.

“You want me to sign it in your name?”

His father shook his head with a faint smile.

“I want you to sign it in your name.” His father lifted his chin in the air, placing his glasses back on his nose. “It’s time you navigate the ways of a diplomat with some real practice.”

He raised his brows. This would be his first solo project representing Wakanda. His veins pulsed with excitement, even when the goal was to end it in failure. He had been desperate to get his brain into gear ever since he accepted that his feelings for Nakia still roamed freely in his body. Besides, his ideas for the improved dams fluttered inside his head like flags in a strong wind.

***

He entered the building with a graceful tread, eyes searching the room before they settled on you. T’Challa Udaku was a handsome man. He wore a well-tailored navy-blue suit, wrapping around his muscled shoulder too perfect, and there was a twinkle in his eyes that shone brighter the moment his lips puckered in a smile. He even held a plastic binder of his own.

You never expected Wakanda to sign up for this project. You even inflated certain elements during your presentation yesterday for that exact reason, but whatever criticism the Prince of Wakanda hid in his notes, you were well-prepared for it today.

Your body glowed with confidence as you gripped the binders in your hands a little tighter, closing the remaining distance between you and the Prince.

***

Your face radiated certainty as you approached him. The fitted cobalt dress draped from your neck over your knees was an interesting change from the lively yellow patterned suit you had worn last time. He admired the contrast of the color with your glowing skin.

“A blue suit,” you smiled. “Neutral choice for our first day working together.”

He lifted his arms at you in a gesture.

“I guess we’re matching that sentiment.”

“I’ll be honest,” you said as you gestured him to follow you upstairs, “I’m surprised Wakanda signed.”

“You were very convincing,” he said in a white lie. His words were half-truths anyway. You had captured his curiosity, because how did you clutch yourself in the mind of his father, the King of Wakanda, a man well-known for his headstrong rule?

“That doesn’t surprise me,” you laughed, standing tall before raising a single eyebrow, “but who exactly did I convince?”

He chuckled, covering his mouth with a half-closed fist. That confidence of yours dripped like a leaky tap, and it seemed you never left an opportunity to show it.

“Whose signature decorates the agreement?”, he stated simple, not meeting your eyes as you still stared at his face.

“I’ll take it as a compliment, Your Highness,” you said after a moment. “Will it be just you?”

He put his arms behind his back before angling your direction with inched brows.

“Less people get more done than too many.”

You parted your lips, corners slightly turning up when you opened the door of a meeting room at your right. He let you walk inside first.

“Uganda has given my department full charge of this project,” you said, closing the door behind him, “which means you’ll have to deal with me a lot.”

You finished the sentence with a playful wink as you put the binders on the table and aligned several bundles of papers in a perfect row.

“Uganda puts a lot of trust in your department.”

You looked up with a serious face.

“I might work for the UN, Your Highness,” you said with a strong brow, “but my alliance always lies with the countries I represent, and they know it.”

He nodded in response, taken aback by that admission as he watched you in wonder.

***

His mind got sucked into the engineering blueprints of the irrigation system during your meetings. He made quick notes in the margins, striking out certain elements in the drawings only to replace them with an idea he thought to improve the system. You would stalk behind him, seemingly reading a report but he sensed your eyes roaming his figure.

Whenever your meetings weren’t solely him and you, he observed how you changed into your diplomatic persona without effort. Such contrast compared to your moments alone. Your eyes glistered whenever your superiors left the room with praising compliments. You dropped the diplomacy in a beat, hopping ecstatic on your feet as your lovely smile brightened his day. Every now and then, you’d make a teasing comment, having him laugh even when he didn’t want to. You covered your bold opinions and stubborn suggestions with innocence, and it frustrated him and amazed him all the same.

At the end of another working week, the sight of you accompanied him to his hotel as he imagined your being all evening over the weekend.

***

Your attachment with the project grew without a stop. Every detail T’Challa made to the blueprints took you by surprise. Your Physics knowledge was limited, even when you studied it for two years and worked with the project engineer three months prior. T’Challa made it all sound so simple when he answered your questions. His passion didn’t go lost in his earth-colored eyes. His hands swerving through the air as he spoke to make you see his vision.

Every day with him was a welcome one. You started the day with snarky comments just to get a reaction from him, but he always stayed well-mannered. He would either laugh politely or counter with a wistful wisdom that made you roll your eyes. You loved testing his boundaries, but it seemed he always redrew them, making it hard for you to figure out his character beyond the polite, playful Prince.

Your eyes always found something to admire during these past weeks. His puckered lips. His large eyes fanned with long lashes. His deep laughter when you joked. The wrinkles in his forehead when he stared at you in thought. That charming tooth gap showing when he spoke.

Did you ignite flames in his heart? Because yours already started to consume a fire in his name.

***

You paced the room as T’Challa waited for you to finish your phone call.

“The only thing I asked was to make sure the idiot was briefed correctly,” you said annoyed, pressing a hand against your temple, “We can’t afford these mishaps any longer. Tell him to get his damn act together or I will.”

You ended the call and put your phone down with a sigh, shaking away the anger, before taking your seat across T’Challa again. He looked at you with an inquiring brow.

“Sorry for the wait,” you started. One of your co-workers at the UN headquarters in Vienna had revealed wrongful information on the project during a news broadcasting interview. “Small miscommunication back at the Head Office."

T’Challa looked at you too entertained. He clasped his hands together, leaning closer as he looked at you with raised brows.

“You speak German very well,” he said while his mouth folded in an amused smile.

Your mouth dropped open and your cheeks flushed with warmth. He had understood ever word you said during that call.

“What other languages do you speak, [Y/N]?”

His French didn’t hide his native accent and you tried not to drown in the sound of your name rolling over his lips. Your blood rushed with excitement as he held your eyes. You sat back in your seat, crossing your legs as you answered his gaze.

“Try and guess,” you said in Wakandan, and your body pulsed victoriously when he chuckled in a soft breath.

“I assume this is a given?”

He had spoken in English. The words colored in his bright Wakandan accent; a sound you decided you thoroughly enjoyed hearing whatever language he would speak.

“It’s basically the go-to language on this earth,” you answered in the same language, “What did you expect?”

“The accent never quite leaves, right?”, he laughed in perfect Swahili.

You snorted loud because you always forgot your own words were wrapped in a French accent.

“The beauty of being a polyglot,” you said in Yoruba, certain he wouldn’t understand a word of it.

Wrinkles formed in his forehead as he put a finger in front of his lips.

“You know how to flatter yourself.”

You widened your eyes, and his lips curled in a pleased smile. He spoke Yoruba as well? Uncrossing your legs, you shoved closer to the table, putting your hands under your chin.

“It’s a quality you’re bound to form when striding the political scene,” you said in Arabic.

“Not everyone is easily charmed by it,” he answered without showing any trouble in using the language.

“Are you?”

His face beamed, and you bit your lip to keep a silly giggle from escaping. You tilted your head slightly, hoping you were about to win this little duel, because what language would he throw your way at this point? You had used all your cards.

He opened his mouth and a series of rhythmic words left his tongue, their meaning completely undecipherable. You dropped your hands on the table, and he smiled brightly, a playful look in his eyes.

“You found my weakness,” you admitted. “What language?”

“Korean.”

You nodded your head and kissed your teeth in a smile while curiosity buzzed inside your mind.

“You’re not telling me what you said, right?”

“Where’s the fun in that?”, he grinned.

Your heart pressed against your ribs. The flames grew every time he smiled.

***

You should have seen her,” he said to his sister, who rolled her eyes in the projection at his wrist. “She was standing like a Jabari mountain. She’s determined. She knows what she—"

“You have been gushing about this woman for too long, Brother,” Shuri exclaimed with a roll of her eyes. “Isn’t this something you could discuss with Ayo?”

“I’ve heard everything already, Princess,” Ayo said from the couch behind him as he paced their residence with you occupying his thoughts.

You had given your presentation in front of a Ugandan board and some of your UN supervisors today. The project had been drafted into detail and their first reactions sounded hopeful. It was still a week worth of waiting for an actual greenlight to continue it, but seeing you excited made him excited, even though he was aware he shouldn’t be hoping for a positive report.

“Nakia?”, she tried desperate. “Even W’Kabi is a better option. Brother, I have stuff to do.”

“What stuff?”, he mocked with a cocked brow. “Hasn’t the Design Group kicked you out yet with your know-it-all attitude?”

His sister’s face stretched unimpressed.

“Very funny.” She tilted her head with a smirk, and he prepared himself for whatever retort she’d come up with this time. “If you’d like to know, I’ve been baptized as their number one inventor, and that only after one week. Tell that to Baba!”

Her face beamed, radiating like a bright sun hanging high in a cloudless sky. His shoulders slumped. Was there nothing this girl couldn’t do?

“Bast, Sister, I needed four months to convince them with the Quinjet.”

“Royal genetics usually skip the firstborn,” she laughed. “They don’t really need their brain while running a country.”

“You got a big bragging mouth when I’m not there to—"

“Brother, you’re using my newest Kimoyo Beads technology,” she countered quickly. “I’m allowed to have a big bragging mouth.”

“Goodbye.”

“Try not to drown in this woman. My brain cells will not sur—"

He cut Shuri’s call short when his father and Nailah stepped inside the room. His sister’s words echoed against the walls.

“What was your sister teasing you about this time?”, his father said cheerful.

“Nothing, Baba,” he smiled, not sure why he was relieved his father hadn’t heard the ending of that conversation. “We were only messing with each other.”

His father took off the jacket of his suit

“How’s the project coming along?”

“We presented it in front of the board today,” he said, remembering how you threaded your words elegantly in a detailed summary of the project. “[Y/N] did most of the work really.”

“Is it true?”, his father said as he sat. “Has she been arrogant?”

Your first day working together, he figured out you had been boastful about your plans, but with every subsequent day you knew how to bring a smart solution to the table.

“Not really,” he decided, and his father looked at him in surprise. “When I told her Wakanda wouldn’t invest half of the budget Uganda asked for, she made an entirely new estimate based on our Nigerian commitment. We can actually do both projects with a slightly raised budget you agreed on with her.”

He took a step in his fathers’ direction who seemed to sink away in his thoughts.

“I’m starting to believe in this project, Baba,” he added.

His father slowly looked up, pressing his lips together and shook his head as an answer.

“And it’s not just the budget,” he started eager. “I could still reinvent the hydraulic system so the periodic irrigation—"

“You’re losing focus, Son.”

Guilt crawled up his legs, entered his body and pushed itself in every corner of his mind.

“I’m not,” he insisted, his thoughts conflicting the feelings he hid inside his heart.

His father rose from his seat and grabbed his shoulders.

“This is a good lesson for you, T’Challa. You should never forget where your priorities lie.”

He dropped his gaze to the floor. These past weeks, the project had become the prospect of his day. Was there something wrong with his passion taking over?

“With Wakanda, Baba,” he said strong, “like they always have.”

***

He inched closer, making sure his chest didn’t press against your back as he looked over your shoulder. You had the board’s report in your hand. The sound of your deep breaths calmed his mind as he fell into your scent.

Jasmine flowers and coconut?

“We did it.”

He woke from his thoughts when you twisted around, clutching the report in one hand with a beaming face.

“We get to continue it, T’Challa!”

You flung your arms around his neck and he stood stunned for a brief. Your scent fogged his mind like a sweet dream. He wrapped his arms around your waist, hands following the curve of your back as he pulled you closer, breathing your presence.

“If you wish,” you whispered. The sound of your voice near his ear made him float dizzy through space. “I can give you the name of the soap I use.”

He quickly let you go and you pinched your lips with a giggle. Whatever was happening between you two, he couldn’t ignore the pull within his body.

“I haven’t had breakfast,” you said, fingers playing with the hem of your shirt at your wrist. “Do you mind going into town?”

‘Not at all.”

***

“How do you like Uganda?”

T’Challa walked beside you as you passed through the buzzling Owino market where folded fabrics, herbs in a rainbow of colors and traditional medicines were stalled. One of the vendors lifted a shiny leather handbag in the air for you.

“Pretty bag for the lady?”, he said with a smile and you shook your head politely.

You walked through the city every morning and every evening, not ever experiencing the vividness of Ugandan life during the day in all its brightness. You still wanted to hang out at a kafunda before you returned home.

“It’s different,” T’Challa said thoughtful, “but I like to stay in my country more than anywhere else.”

“You haven’t been very lucky to be born a Prince.”

He had told you he was the eldest, so as the Wakandan Heir, his life was set to go a certain direction since his birth. The thought of such a life creeped your skin with chills.

“I think myself very lucky,” he said as his gaze shifted over the people around you before resting on you. “You must be travelling a lot as well for your work.”

“I wanted it,” you smiled, “and it’s so nice to meet the locals.”

His eyebrows rose slowly as he stared at you with a dorky expression in his eyes. You looked away, cooling down the warmth on your cheeks with a deep inhale. You enjoyed visiting Africa. You let yourself get lost in the feeling of being unapologetically yourself.

“Where are you originally from?”

Your smile drooped into a line. You never liked hearing that question, even if T’Challa asked in good spirit. Living in France, it was the first question people asked you when you met as if it mattered to your person. In their eyes, you were a foreigner. The color of your skin and the texture of your hair reminded people all too well, yet, they forgot you were as much a foreigner to the African continent.

“My father is—"

“[Y/N]!”

You turned your head to the familiar voice, a smile creeping on your face without a thought.

“Mukisa,” you exclaimed.

The old man held a woven bag in his hand full of groceries. He was dressed in a red shirt, brown linen shorts secured with a belt at his waist and worn sandals on his feet.

“Where were you this morning?” he said in Ugandan English. “Your absence ruined my day.”

You laughed as his greyed brows lightheartedly blamed you in a twitch.

“I was coming by just now to make your day better, Uncle.”

He clapped his hand gently against your back as he turned his attention to T’Challa.

“You found yourself a man now?”, Mukisa said in banter. “I told you I have three sons waiting to propose.”

You snorted loud and shook your head.

“Please, no,” you laughed at the man. T’Challa’s smile grew as he stared a you. “T’Challa, this is Mukisa—”

“Street vendor a couple of streets down and I introduced this lovely lady to the best Ugandan snack ever,” Mukisa said proud.

“What snack?”

Mukisa stopped in his track, widening his eyes at T’Challa in shock.

“You never tried a Rolex?”, he said, sucking his teeth. “If you don’t eat one, you haven’t been in Uganda. Come and I’ll make a special one just for you.”

Mukisa waved his arm in the air for you to follow him. You locked arms with T’Challa’s arm and leaned closer

“That’s exactly what he said to me the first time,” you whispered, “and I’ve been visiting him ever since.”

T’Challa puckered his mouth amused as he stared at your hands around his arm and you pondered on a wonderful what-if that could never be.

***

He took another bite of his Rolex, his third one this week. You sat high up a hill, watching the Ugandan capital under you being covered into evening with a soft sunset. The orange glow on your bare legs tickled his thoughts.

“This one colleague doesn’t think a minute before speaking,” you said in a fit of giggles. His mind couldn’t capture the perfection of your laughing tune as his eyes traced the lines of your smiling lips. “He gets himself in all sorts of trouble, so we had to keep him at the headquarters in Vienna, especially after he insulted the President of Kenya right under his nose.”

“What did he say?”

“You don’t want to know,” you said with a waving finger, “and I’m not telling you.”

“Never happened to you?”, he said with a cocked eyebrow before he ate the last bit of his wrap.

“I am very careful in what I do or say at work,” you declared proudful as you leaned back in the grass. “I’ll admit I can be very direct in my words without really wanting to but—“.

“Just say you hide your stubbornness well.”

He peered at you from the corner of his eyes, enjoying how your face folded from played shock to challenging jest when you pushed your shoulder back.

“Calling me out, T’Challa?”

“I only name what I observe,” he stated simple. “It’s a scientist’s way.”

You crossed your legs.

“Do share your other observations with me, Mr. Scientist,” you said with squinting eyes, grasping his gaze like a hook. “I dare you.”

“Where do I start?” He lifted a finger in front of his lips, feigning deep thoughts. “Your aggressiveness? Your arrogance? Your—"

You covered your mouth as you let out the ugliest snort he ever heard, and he bellowed a laughter that hurt deep inside his stomach. He just loved your carelessness when around him, never hiding behind a pretend persona.

“You have some nerves, but I still want to hear what you have to say,” you said as your hand reached his face, your thumb wiping something away from the corner of his mouth.

“I-I don’t…”

He cursed his stammer while your touch on his skin send him spiraling. Why did he lose focus whenever you claimed his eyes with your gaze?

“I can share some of my thoughts about you,” you whispered.

The huskiness of your voice brought his restless mind at play with his imagination. Your gaze slipped lower from his eyes to his lips, and when you leaned closer, his body froze, not sure how to respond as your lips covered his with hesitation.

Your lips pressed gently, no eagerness in their warm caress, making it all the sweeter when he sunk into the embrace with an insatiable desire. He closed his eyes, debating whether he should or not before pulling you into his lap anyway. His hands traced your waist, following the curvature of your body when you arched your back with a moan, unlocking your lips.

“T’Challa,” you whispered. “We’re in public.”

Hearing his name in that hoarse sound made his body pulse with a burning want for more.

“Give me a moment,” he grunted in a whisper, pressing his nose against your neck, letting your perfume taint his mind.

An alarm rang inside his mind to make an end to whatever he started, but he was already sinking too deep in a sea of hope.

***

He walked you home, his touch on your body still burned, and you weren’t ready to part from the feeling. He wanted you as much as you wanted him at this point, even if it might be just a lustful attraction to him.

At the entrance of your building, you kissed him on his cheek and his head turned for his lips to brush yours. You sensed his smirk in that soft caress. You took him by the hand, guiding him inside your flat, not listening to your mind chastising your heart for this foolishness.

What was wrong with falling into the depth of him, even when a future could never be written in the stars? You wrapped your arms around him, pressing your bodies together to kiss the skin near his ear. The heavy beating of his hear sounded like a plea for more.

“I don’t mean to take advantage of you.”

“You’re not,” you whispered, pushing him against the wall of your bedroom.

His lips travelled down your neck in feathery kisses while his hands worked away a layer of your clothes.

“Tell me if I should stop.”

You clasped his lips in a deep kiss, your body rippling with pleasure as he answered you with rhythmic passion.

“Don’t stop,” you gasped against his lips.

His fingers trailed over your bare back before he grabbed you by the waist and pulled you even closer.

“I don’t mean to—”

“T’Challa.” You cupped his face with both hands, your eyes roaming his gorgeous face with ticking impatience. “Can you shut up and just make love to me?”

He laughed before he spun you on your back in one swift turn. You closed your eyes with an airy giggle, ready to have him again in all his glory.

***

Your hands teased, your lips enthralled him. Your hips mesmerized, your scent drowned him. Each memory of your touch he took with him after he kissed you goodbye. Too many messages were left unanswered on his phone but all he could think of was you. He was walking a slippery path but what about it? His heart wanted to love another, admire another and be answered with the same yearning.

He opened the door to his residence as silent as he could, not wanting to wake his father.

“Where have you been?”

He turned around to find Ayo glaring at him. He should have send her a text, if only to have her calmed down by the time he got here.

“We still had to finish something,” he said in a lie, passing her as he replayed the image of you and him, pressed, melting as one.

“Why stay throughout the evening if you can do your work first thing in the morning?”, she murmured low.

He would see you again tomorrow. His stomach dropped in a tangled flutter of anticipation and confusion. He covered his face with a hand. How would he walk around the blurred lines he was creating?

“Another deadline is approaching,” he started, his mind and heart at odds with each other. “We got that greenlight, remember?”

Ayo slowly shook her head as she looked at him in a scowl.

“You were at her place.” She paused for a beat. “ Prince, you’re playing with fire here.”

He sunk away in his feelings, numbed and betrayed.

“Why are you tracking me?”

“It might not be my place to say,” she said, standing tall with an apology shining in her eyes, “but you should remember your father’s words when with her.”

He looked at her from under his brows, wondering if he could trust her to keep this a secret. She had always been one of his close friends ever since she became his personal guard.

“I know where my loyalty lies, Ayo,” he articulated. “I hope you do too.”

***

Meetings were spare since the greenlight. Small details needed to be checked and filled in with each party individually which you ran with him after. He would meet you in your flat for a couple of hours which were filled with work discussions, personal conversations and innocent make-out sessions. He desperately tried to keep them from happening, but Ayo’s or his father’s words could rest his body to show you how he felt.

On his days off, you met up to roam about in Uganda city life without expectations or responsibilities. He was living a dream, free to love whoever he wanted.

No worries, no titles.

Just you. Just him.

***

You sighed as you threw the binder on the low coffee table of your sitting room. Your hand covered your temple, a gesture you made all too often. He could list every single reason you would rest your hand there.

“They’re only asking for ten Wakandan outreach workers to stay two weeks longer than agreed upon.”

He shrugged his shoulders.

“Wakanda is not willing to overdue their help,” he stated in a simple voice.

You kissed your teeth and he shouldn’t think it funny, but he adored the sight of your irascible self.

“Honestly, what’s in a year?”

One year ago, he begged for Nakia to stay. One year ago, he cried to heal his broken heart. One year ago, he could never have imagined he would fall for somebody else, and yet here he sat, wishing for an easier way of life, one without a title that held obligations above the head of every woman he loved.

“A lot can change over the course of a year.”

You stalked towards him. His eyes followed the sway of your hips. His skin burned with the need for your touch.

“You annoy me,” you huffed as you sat in his lap. “Stop being so annoying.”

He raised his arms in the air with a gasped chuckle.

“You should learn to ask instead of making demands.”

You cupped his face in laughter and kissed him along the line of his cheekbones. He closed his eyes, hands resting on your back as he let his body swelter while your lips warmed every inch of his face. When your fingers dug under his shirt, setting him ablaze, he grabbed you by the arms.

“[Y/N], not now.”

“It’s a lost fight, T’Challa,” you smiled, biting your bottom lip before your voice lowered seductive. “I usually get my way anyway.”

He clasped your lips. Your kisses were streaks of joy and bliss, making him forget that he shouldn’t pray to Bast to gift him a chance to keep this one good thing with him forever.

***

You planted a kiss on T’Challa’s nose before rolling on your back with a heaving chest. With closed eyes, you let the delight, still waving within your body, slowly eb away. You opened your eyes when you felt his fingers graze your belly. His brows rose to wrinkle his forehead, and his smile soothed you.

“This shouldn’t happen every time we meet,” he whispered, pulling you closer. Legs tangled, feet touching.

“Don’t think about it too much,” you smiled, pressing your nose in the crook of his neck.

“We both have our responsibilities in this partnership,” he spoke near your ear, “and they do not align.”

He said out loud what your mind has been telling you all along. He was a Prince, and you were a woman who would never desire life at court. There was no future together, no dream life made up by just you and him and yet...

“This just feels right,” you said as you grasped his eyes because he must feel the same way, right?

“It does,” he said in a chuckle and that confession wrapped you in an embrace more intimate than your bodies pressed in heat.

You turned to lay on your belly, your chin supporting on the back of your hands as you stared at this wonder of a man. His eyes twinkled in response.

Was there no way to wake up with him by your side every day?

“Tell me what’s on your mind,” he whispered as he trailed two fingers over your jaw.

“I don’t like surprises, but it’s quite the surprise I fell for a Prince without standing.”

He bellowed his echoing laughter, filling your heart with too many wishes that will never be. His hands shot to your sides and you bend in laughter.

“Stop it,” you exclaimed before smashing your head against his chin and he groaned in pain.

You inched closer to him, taking his jaw between your fingers to press kisses against his chin as he chuckled with pinched eyes.

“I’m so sorry,” you whispered in between a kiss. “I told you tickles are at your own risk.”

***

The next days, there was no single fiber in his body that spoke the urge to stop loving you. Ayo kept reminded him how he only fueled his feelings by seeing you outside the UN meetings, but you told him this felt right. His heart found another rhythm worth beating and maybe he could find a way to have it stay with him for the rest of his life.

As he walked inside his residence after a carefree walk through the neighborhood, he found his father returned from his meeting with the Ugandan representatives. Nailah stood behind him with an intense expression while Ayo was seated in a chair at the dining table. She didn’t look up, but her body sat tensed.

“[Y/N] was full of praise for you,” his father said strong, making him swallow hard. “She seems to know you too well, T’Challa.”

“We… We’ve been working together these past months,” he tried innocent. His palms were sweating like a waterfall. “It’s not hard to get to know someone well after that.”

“She’s inviting you in her bed which might explain it too.”

He shifted his gaze to Ayo who still avoided his eyes. Could he blame her for telling?

“You’re inattentive when falling for someone.” His father’s brows furrowed in a deadly stare. “I’ve witnessed it first hand in Wakanda, and I witness it here as well.”

He looked away.

His bones filled with despair. His heart messed up his new-found rhythm with weighty regret.

“I will remind you once again that you have a duty to look after,” his father continued. “Don’t lose it out of sight because you think you’re falling in love with an outsider. Think of the consequences, Son. Bast, think of our country!”

“I am thinking—”

“Are you?!”

He took a step closer to his father.

“I’m aware she’s not a Wakandan,” he said in a clear voice.

The words tried to slip inside of him, to nestle the truth between his feelings so to temper them. What a lost cause, really, because why did it matter what you were?

“Don’t you think I see it when you pray for it to be different?”

He cursed the treachery that was his damned face.

“I’ve asked a reconsideration of the project,” his father spoke.

He heard the message of broken trust between the words, but more so the start of an ending. Every single fiber of his body urged to undo it. Undo it. Undo it.

When would he learn to accept that love never worked in his favor?

***

Your eyes sought out T’Challa all by themselves when you entered the meeting room. He didn’t glance your way as he took his seat at the table. You hadn’t seen each other for days, and he couldn’t meet your eyes for just a second? You pushed away the hostile feeling inside your bones and formed a smile on your face for King T’Chaka who approached you.

“Coming to see the hard work your son has put in this project, Your Majesty?”

The King nodded with an earnest face, but he was clearly not amused by your little jest. Your veins filled with dreaded caution. There was a reason why Wakanda gathered this meeting on such short notice.

“It’s his first project,” the King said too stern for his usual self. “I’m allowed to be proud.”

“There’s a lot to be proud about.” You looked at T’Challa. He didn’t seem at ease. His hand rested near his mouth as he made small talk with the person next to him. “You raised a good man with him.”

“That good man is to be King one day too.”

You silently sighed, because there was never just him. Only titles and duties and impossibilities.

“He has an entire country depending on him, and no distraction should come his way as he takes upon that duty.”

“He knows very well what is expected of him,” you said in a lowered tone. King T’Chaka had figured it out. “You don’t have to remind me—"

“I’m reminding you who my son is,” he snapped before he leaned closer, holding your eyes without mercy. “There’s no hope in keeping a fire ablaze when the rain is pouring.”

“Your Majesty, I never—"

“This ends today.”

The King left you to stand all alone. You clenched your jaw. With just three words he had weighted your heart. Why did it hurt to think being parted from T’Challa when you already decided the ending even before your story really had begun?

***

The meeting room emptied. You were gathering your stuff when T’Challa’s hand covered your wrist and with a stare he insisted you to stay. You turned to look at King T’Chaka. His inched brows hooded his gaze which shifted between the both of you before he left through the door.

“I didn’t expect Wakanda’s official withdrawal to be the outcome today,” you said, jerking your hand from under his fingers.

You paced the room, arms wrapping around your body. Your feelings ached because he didn’t tell you, didn’t warn you. A stupid thought because he had no obligation to explain himself or Wakanda to you, but it still hurt.

“We worked so hard for this,” you said in a cracked voice.

He stepped closer, putting his hands around your arms.

“I’m sorry, [Y/N].”

He pulled you in for a hug, hands rubbing over your back while you breathed his scent into memory.

“We can’t keep doing this,” he whispered, streaking his thumbs over your cheeks when he released you for that tender hug.

You let yourself drown one last time in his eyes.

“It’s not like we expected it to last, right?”

masterlist | part 1 – part 2 – part 3 – part 4 – part 5 – part 6

personal remark Sooooo, this is the pre-Abiona relationship of T’Challa and Reader/You/Alix (how me and C**** call her lol). I had some back and forth with some anons after the last chapters (loved it btw) which revealed to me I needed to give some background to their previous relationship. I hope you can uncover the reason why T’Challa bends over backwards for Alix (credits to the anon who I’m quoting loool). You can read it within the lines but make from it what you want really. Anyway, next chapter we’ll be picking up the story from part 5, throwing another obstacle in the mix for their love story. Thank you all for your patience with my updates, the likes, the reblogs, the comments. I appreciate you and your support from the bottom of my heart <3<3<3

This chapter is dedicated to @mosaicpieces and their amazing story suggestions. MP, you basically created this in my mind. Never forget!

@tongueofareadywriter I knowwwww no Abiona (yet lol) but now I established it was never a roll in the hay, right??? Also, thank you for your constant support. I love how you adore this story.

@teechallas-blog A proper shout-out to you too, because I would like to apologize for the state I left your wig in after chapter 5... You still love me, right?

taglist @marvelhaven @designatedrhodesandshores @lovely-geek @arabellaaurorabarnes @supernatural-dreamer @ira-and-ephelis @yourwonderbelle @pessimisfit @supremethunda @xxdarkdarlingxx @shinyanchorface @isaathompsonus @af112992 @tiniefluff @kenbechillin @chefjessypooh @oberyners @maliadestiny @inlovewith3@inlovewithmakeupcomicsanimelove @holy-minseok @hopenshaw @90sinspiredgirl @pupyluv247 @k-michaelis @i-am-de-queen @morningstar09 @nyneebey @idilly (if you want to be taken off the taglist, please let me know. I don’t want to spam anyone lol)

#black panther #black panther oneshot #black panther fanfiction #black panther fandom #black panther x reader #t'challa #t'challa oneshot #t'challa x reader #abiona series #wmi

129 notes · View notes

newsnigeria · 6 years

Text

Check out New Post published on Ọmọ Oòduà

New Post has been published on http://ooduarere.com/news-from-nigeria/world-news/foreign-minister-s-lavrovs/

Foreign Minister S.Lavrov’s interview with Channel 4, Moscow, June 29, 2018

http://www.mid.ru/en/foreign_policy/news/-/asset_publisher/cKNonkJE02Bw/content/id/3285972

Question: Foreign Minister, the summit is happening in Helsinki. Russian President V.Putin and US President D.Trump together. Is this the post-West world order that you have talked of in the past? Has it now arrived?

S.Lavrov: Well, I think that we are in the post-West world order, but this order is being shaped and it will take a long time. It is a historical epoch, if you want. Certainly, after five or so centuries of domination of the collective West, as it were, it is not very easy to adjust to new realities that there are other powerhouses economically, financially and politically, China, India, Brazil. African countries are going to be very much on the rise, as soon as they resolve at least some of the conflicts, which are there on the continent. Well, Russia certainly would like to be an independent world player. Independent in the sense that we do not want to violate and international law and norms, but the decisions, which we would be taking on the basis of international law, would not be influenced by pressure, money, sanctions, threats or anything else.

Question: Russia is shaping this world order that is clear.

S.Lavrov: It is not Russia is shaping this world order, its history. It’s the development itself. You cannot really hope to contain this new powerful, economically and financially, countries. You cannot really ignore their role in world trade and world economy. Attempts are being made to slow down this process by new tariffs, new sanctions for good or bad reasons in violation of the WTO principles and so on. But I think it is a logical reaction: trying to slow down something, which is objective and does not depend on any single administration in any country.

Question: But Europe has something to fear from that world order that you have just mapped out there.

S.Lavrov: What was that?

Question: Well the world order that you have mapped out involved all sorts of countries. You did not mention whether the EU fits into that. Do they need to worry about that new world order?

S.Lavrov: Well, the EU is of course part of the collective West with the addition of new members from Eastern Europe. But the European Union is certainly a very important pillar of any world order. As for the Russian Federation, it is our biggest trade partner in spite of the fact that after the unfortunate developments and the wrongly understood interpretation of what the coup d’état is. The volume of trade since 2014 between Russia and the European Union went down 50%, but it is still more than $250bn and it is our number one trading partner, as a collective, as a Union. But the European Union certainly is now fighting to make sure that it is not lost in this new world order that is being shaped. It is not easy, because the reliance on the United States is something, which quite a number of the EU members want to keep. There are some other EU members, who believe that they should be a bit more self-sufficient in military matters for example. The initiative of President F.Macron and Germany to consider some kind of European defence capabilities being beefed up is a manifestation of this case.

I am watching the EU summit, which is going on right now, and the discussion on migration brought an interesting thought to my head, namely it is about the relations between NATO and EU. NATO bombed Libya, turned Libya into a black hole through which waves of migrants, illegal migrants, rushed to Europe. Now EU is cleaning the broken china for NATO.

Question: You talk about NATO’s involvement in Libya, but then there is Russia’s involvement in Syria and that has also created millions of refugees.

S.Lavrov: Yes, but I would challenge you that the Russian involvement in Syria on the basis of legitimate request from the legitimate government, recognized by all as the representative of Syria in the United Nations, took place in September 2015, four years and a half into the Arab spring embracing Syria. The bulk of the refugees already was outside Syria by the time that we came to the rescue of the legitimate government.

Question: Well you talk of the legitimate government that is also the government responsible for killing of hundreds of thousands of its own citizens, making millions homeless. “A gas killing animal”, as President D.Trump, your ally, puts it. Do you rest easy being allied with that kind of government?

S.Lavrov: Well, I would not go into the names, which President D.Trump used to describe some of the world leaders. It is not something done in concrete, it might change. What I want to say is: it is a war. It is the war, which was started by mistakes made on the part of everyone, including the Syrian government. I believe these disturbances could have been handled politically at an earlier stage. But we have now on our hands what is the result of outside forces having tried to use the situation in order to reshape the map of the Middle East and Northern Africa by trying to get into Syria without any invitation and trying to promote their own agenda there. So, the efforts, which we are now undertaking together with Turkey and Iran, and both of them are present on the ground, Turkey without invitation, Iran with the invitation from the government, but we managed pragmatically to create what we call Astana Process, Astana Format. The Syrian government, given the fact that Russia, Iran cooperate with Turkey on the basis of decisions, which lead to de-escalation, accepted Astana Process as such. It is part of the process together with the armed opposition, they regularly meet, and try to create conditions for the resolution of UN Security Council 2254 to be implemented.

Question: Let me ask again about Syrian President B.Assad. A lot of people would like to know what is there to like about President B.Assad?

S.Lavrov: We do not like anybody. The diplomacy and politics are not about liking or disliking, it is for human beings as individuals to use this terminology. President Assad is protecting the sovereignty of his country. He is protecting his country and in a broader sense the region from terrorism, which was really about a couple of weeks from taking over Damascus in September 2015.

We did not want the repetition of tragedies, which happened during last couple of decades through the “adventures”. Maybe even more than a couple of decades. It started closer to the end last century in Afghanistan, when the US decided to support militarily, financially and otherwise mujahedeen, who were fighting the Soviet troops. I would not dwell upon why the Soviet troops were there. By the way USSR was also invited legally by the government, which was recognized legitimate. The US decided to use the mujahedeen to fight the Soviet troops, hoping that after the job is done, they could handle those mujahedeen. That is how Al Qaeda appeared and the US lost total control of this beast, whom they had created basically. Then there was an adventure in Iraq on the very false pretence. Now everybody knows this, even Tony Blair admitted that this was a mistake. But the fact of the matter is just like Al Qaeda was born in Afghanistan, ISIL/Daesh was born after the intervention in Iraq. After Libya was invaded in gross violation of the Security Council Resolution, and Syria is now, there is another beast that was born – Jabhat al Nusra, which changes names, but is another terrorist organization. Whatever the civilized West is trying to bring to the Middle East and North Africa turns out to be in favour of terrorists.

Question: That is a very impressive whistle-stop tour of history, but I want to ask about the present though and about President Assad. You said that it is not about liking President Assad. Does that mean that Russia would be prepared to see him go? Do the job, finish the war and then he goes?

S.Lavrov: It is the position, which is not Russian position, it is the position of the Security Council, endorsed by each and every country on Earth, that the future of Syria must be decided by the Syrian people themselves. That there must be a new constitution. On the basis of the new constitution there must be elections. Elections should be free, fair, monitored by the UN and all Syrian citizens, wherever they are, should be eligible to vote.

Question: So, it is irrelevant to you whether he stays or goes, that is for the Syrian people?

S.Lavrov: Yes, that is for them to decide. I believe that this view, which was rejected for quite some time after the Syrian crisis began, is now shared by more and more countries.

Question: When Russia withdraws from Syria? President V.Putin first raised the prospect in March 2016, he said that Russia had largely achieved her objectives there. Again, December 2017. By the end of this year can we expect Russia to be out of Syria?

S.Lavrov: No. I do not think that this is something, which we can intelligently discuss. We do not like artificial deadlines, but we have been consistently reducing our military presence in Syria. The last reduction took place a few of days ago. More than 1,000 troops have come back to Russia, some aircraft and other equipment as well. It depends on what is the actual situation on the ground. Yes, we managed together with our colleagues, with Syrian Army, with the help of opposition, which I would call “patriotic opposition” not to allow plans to create a caliphate by ISIL happen. But some remnants of ISIL are very much there. Jabhat al Nusra is still there. They are now preventing the deal on the southern Syrian de-escalation area to be implemented fully. So there are some leftovers. Besides, we do have, not actually full-fledged bases, but two places where our naval ships and our aircraft are located in Syria and they might be usefully kept for quite some time.

Question: Clearly, Syria will be on the agenda at the summit. Just want to talk about some other things that might be. For example, you have mentioned sanctions. Do you think that sanctions will be lifted, given that the EU has just talked about extending them? Do you think you can get President D.Trump to commit to that?

S.Lavrov: Actually, I have mentioned sanctions only in the context of the deterioration of relations. We are not pleading to remove them. It is not our business, it is for those, who introduced sanction, to decide whether they want to continue or whether common sense would prevail.

Question: Well, your President has very recently said that he would like them lifted.

S.Lavrov: Yes, absolutely. We would not mind them lifted, but we would not mind also using the spirit to build up our own capacity in key sectors of economy, security and other areas on which an independent state depends. In the recent years, we have learned a lot, including the fact that in these issues you cannot rely on the West. You cannot rely on Western technologies, because they can be abruptly stopped at any moment. You cannot rely on the items, which are essential for the day-to-day living of the population, coming from the West, because this could also be stopped. So we are certainly drawing lessons. But we certainly would not be against sanctions being lifted and we would reciprocate, because we do have some countermeasures in place.

Question: What are you prepared to give in this Summit? For example, if D.Trump says he wants NSA whistle-blower Edward Snowden back in the US, is that something that you would consider? Is this something that you can put on the table?

S.Lavrov: I have never discussed Edward Snowden with this Administration. President V.Putin addressed the issue some years ago. When he was asked the question, he said this is for Edward Snowden do decide. We respect his rights, as an individual. That is why we were not in the position to expel him against his will, because he found himself in Russia even without the US passport, which was discontinued as he was flying from Hong Kong.

Question: So that is not going to be up for discussion?

S.Lavrov: I do not know why people would start asking this particular question in relation to the Summit. Edward Snowden is the master of his own destiny.

Question: Given that the US intelligence believes that the presidential elections were meddled with, can Russian President V.Putin give D.Trump any assurances that the upcoming mid-term elections in a few months’ time would not be meddled with by Russia?

S.Lavrov: We would prefer some facts. We cannot intelligently discuss something, which is based on “highly likely”.

Question: Well, it is more than highly likely, is not it?

S.Lavrov: No. The investigation in the US has been going on for how long? A year and a half now?

Question: Well, Robert Mueller indicted the Internet Research Agency, the Russian “troll factory”.

S.Lavrov: Indictment is something, which requires a trial and I understand that they have submitted their own case and they have challenged quite a number of things, which were used for the indictment. So let’s not jump the gun. I love Lewis Carrol, but I do not think that the logic of the queen, who said “sentence first, verdict later”, is going to prevail. So far, you take the presidential election in the US, take Brexit, take the Salisbury case, take the tragedy with the Malaysian Boeing MH17 flight, it is all based on “investigation continues, but you are guilty already”. It cannot work this way.

Question: But is Russia frightened of the truth? Because it just seems whenever the authority whether it is the UN or the chemical weapons watch dog OPCW, whenever they try to get to the facts, Russia objects.

S.Lavrov: No, I believe that the public and respected journalists like you have been misinformed. The OPCW must operate on the basis of the Chemical Weapons Convention, which says bluntly that there is only one procedure when you want to establish facts. First, experts of the OPCW must themselves without delegating this authority to anyone go to the place of the alleged incident. They must themselves with their own hands and with their own equipment take samples. They must continue holding the substances in their hands until they have reached a certified laboratory. In the recent cases, especially in the infamous case of Khan Shaykhun April last year, when the Syrian government was accused of using aerial bombs to deliver chemical weapons to Khan Shaykhun, the OPCW never visited the place, they never took samples themselves. When we asked where did they get samples they said: “the Brits and the French gave it to us”. We asked why do not you go there?

Question: Have you lost faith in the OPCW?

S.Lavrov: Wait a second, that is important information. Let’s not speak slogans, let’s speak facts. So they did not go there. But they said that “we got the samples”. We asked “where from?”. They said “well the British and the French got it for us”. “Why do not you go?”, we asked. “Why it is not very safe.” We told them if the Brits and the French made it there or rather they know people who can get there safely, why do not you ask Paris and London to ensure safety for your own inspectors to get there. We told the same to the French and to the British, they said: “no, it is something, which we cannot share with you, how we got hold of this”. So, no procedures, regarding the taking of the samples, and the chain of custody, meaning that the inspectors themselves cannot delegate to anyone the delivery of samples to laboratory. These procedures, embodied and enshrined in the Convention, were violated. The Report on this Khan Shaykhun case, submitted by this Joint Investigating Mechanism last fall was full of “highly likely”, “by all probability”, “we have good reasons to believe” and so on and so forth. We invited the authors of the Report to the Security Council, trying to get some credible information from them. Impossible, they were stonewalled, they refused to talk. We said: “guys, if you want to work on the basis of violation of the Convention’s procedures, this cannot continue”. We did not extend their mandate, but we suggested a new mechanism, insisting that this new mechanism must not violate the procedures embodied in the Convention.

Question: Do you still have faith in the OPCW?

S.Lavrov: Until recently we did. But the organization was grossly manipulated a couple of days ago, when the Brits and others convened the special sessions of the state parties to the Convention. They passed a decision by vote, which basically violates the Convention in all its provisions, giving the Technical Secretariat the right to establish guilt. I think that this is a step, which was not thought through very thoroughly, because it is very dangerous.

Question: Well, it is dangerous potentially for Russia, because now the chemical weapons watchdog can apportion blame to the likes of Russia. Are you fearful of the truth?

S.Lavrov: No, I am fearful of the future of the OPCW and the Chemical Weapons Convention.

Question: Will you withdraw from the OPCW?

S.Lavrov: Well, if people prefer to violate the Convention, if they say that this is the “will of the majority”. When they convened this conference, all kinds of tricks were used, including mobilizing small countries, who do not have any representation in the Hague, paying for their travel expenses, paying for their hotel bills. We know all this and they know all this. So, when the Convention is grossly violated, I do not think that you can really avoid raising concern. We will try to repair the situation, because this decision will go to the regular conference of the state parties. But if this is not repaired, I believe that the days of the OPCW will be counted, at least it would not remain as a universal organization.

Question: The OPCW has also investigated the case of the Skripals. I wanted to ask you, do you think that using a nerve agent to poison a former spy and his child, a policeman on the streets of a cathedral city in Britain is an act of a rational state?

S.Lavrov: Rational state? Not at all. It is an act of crime. We from the very beginning suggested that we investigate this together, because it is our citizen. At least the daughter is our citizen. The father, I think, has a dual citizenship, he is a Russian citizen and a British subject. From the very beginning we suggested a joint investigation. We asked so many questions, including the questions related to the Chemical Weapons Convention’s procedures. In response, we were told that the British side does not want to listen, because we have to tell them only one thing. “Did V.Putin order this or did V.Putin lose control over the people who did?”. That’s all that the Brits wanted to discuss. The inconsistences in the situation with the Skripals are very troubling. We never managed to get consular access to our citizen in violation of all international conventions on diplomatic and consular relations. We never got any credible explanation why the cousin of Yulia Skripal has not been given visa, she wants to visit the UK and see her cousin. And many other things related to the act itself.

Question: But why would Britain give consular access to the country suspected of being behind this attack?

S.Lavrov: You know that the investigation continues. The Scotland Yard said that it would take a few more months. UK Foreign Secretary B.Johnson recently mentioned that the place is being disinfected four months after the incident. The policeman became miraculously fine. The Skripals became miraculously fine. People now talk about levelling the house, where they lived, levelling the house of the policeman. It all looks like a consistent physical extermination of the evidence, like the benches of the park were removed immediately and, of course, the video images, when the policemen or special forces in special attire go to take a look at this bench, while people without any protection are moving around. It looks very weird.

S.Lavrov: Mr. Lavrov are accusing the British state of a cover-up of this whole incident?

S.Lavrov: I do not exclude this, as long as they do not give us information. You know that about 10 Russian citizens have died in London during the past years. All 10 cases have been investigated in the secret format. We do not understand why. One of the wise guys said: “who is to benefit?” Certainly, the UK benefited politically from what is going. Come to think of it, it is an interesting situation, thereby the country, which is leaving the European Union, is determining the EU policy on Russia. When they were running through all capitals of the European Union, saying “you must expel the Russian diplomats, you must expel them”. So they did. Most of them, some did not. Then we privately asked those, who decided to join Britain in this action whether any proof was given in addition to what was said publicly. They said no. But they said that “we were promised that later, as investigation proceeds, we would be given more facts”. Do you think it is ok?

Question: But you ask who benefits and there are many in the West, who say that the chaos whether it is Brexit, whether it is the Skripals, whether it is D.Trump in the White House…

S.Lavrov: You forgot Catalonia and you forgot the forthcoming elections in Sweden, as the Prime Minister said. Macedonia, Montenegro…

Question: Ok, we will include that later. But answer me this: does the chaos benefit Russia, as some in the West say?

S.Lavrov: You have to be within the historical and chronological framework. You mean the chaos benefits Russia couple of weeks before the presidential elections and months before the World Cup. What do you think?

Question: I am asking you. Does chaos benefit Russia?

S.Lavrov: I want to clarify the issue. Does chaos benefit Russia couple of days before the presidential elections and couple of days before the World Cup? Is it the question?

Question: Well you talked about the new world order that you are hoping that Russia will help shape. Much easier to shape that world order if the EU is in chaos, you are holding the ring in the Middle East, if you are calling the shots in Syria. Russia potentially benefits.

S.Lavrov: No, this is absolutely wrong. It is misreading what I have said. I did not say that Russia wants to shape the new order. I said that Russia must be one of the players on the equal basis, discussing how the objective reality of multipolarity, being developed in front of our eyes, could be managed the way, which would be acceptable to all. That is what I have said. The interests of those, who determine the Russophobic policy in the West, are absolutely diametrically different. Their interest is to punish Russia, to downgrade Russia.

Question: Why, do you think?

S.Lavrov: Because it is very painful to lose half millennium of domination in the world affairs. In a nutshell this is the answer. This is not the criticism, this is a statement of fact. I understand when people used to call the shots in India, Africa, Asia, elsewhere and now they understand that this time has passed.

Question: Is Brexit good for Britain? Is it good for Russia?

S.Lavrov: This is for the UK subjects to discuss.

Question: Good for Russia, though?

S.Lavrov: I do not understand why we should be thinking in this way. It is something that the Brits decided. It is something, which they still discuss with the EU: the divorce, the problems inside the country. We also know, of course we follow the news, that the Parliament has one position, some public activists want rethinking.

Question: Does it look like chaos to you in Theresa May’s Britain?

S.Lavrov: Look, it is something, which happened by developments inside the UK. We only want clarity. What will be the basis on which we continue to work with the European Union. What will be the basis on which we might someday restore the relations with the UK, when they take some reasonable course and not overly ideologised, “highly likely” attitude. I believe that this must be must be very much understood by those in the West, especially by the liberals, who keep saying that the “rule of law must prevail”. In my view, rule of law means that unless proven guilty you cannot sentence people. That is what is happening with Skripal, MH17, with the OPCW being an instrument of those, who would like to make this “highly likely” the order of the day in Syria.

Question: Just returning to the Summit for a couple of final questions. Does it help Russia in her dealings with D.Trump that so many people think that you have compromising materials, so-called “kompromat”, on him?

S.Lavrov: Look, I hear this for the first time that we have the compromising material on D.Trump. That’s what the Special Counsel R.Mueller is trying to dig. Actually, I stopped reading the news from this investigation. You know that when R. Tillerson was Secretary of State, he once stated publicly that they have an “undeniable proof”. Then, during our contact, I said: “Rex, can you give this undeniable proof to us? Because we want to understand what is going on. Maybe this is something that we can explain”. He said: “well, we cannot give it to you, we cannot compromise our sources and besides, your special services, your security people know everything – ask them”. Is it the way to handle serious things? It is a matter, which is used to ruin the Russian-American relations. To answer the way, in which he did, I believe that it is not mature. It is very childish, I think. I think that the people, who are trying to dig something to prove that we have decided the future of the greatest country on Earth through some Internet agency, are ridiculous. I understand that the Democrats in the US are really quite nervous. I understand that the UK is nervous. There were leaks in the Times, saying that the Cabinet members are nervous that D.Trump and V.Putin might get along.

Question: So you do read the papers?

S.Lavrov: I read the extracts, which my people give me. I love reading papers with a cup of coffee, but do not always have time.

Question: Finally, on that point of kompromat. The ex-FBI Director J.Comey has said and I quote “it is possible that the current President of the United States was with prostitutes, peeing on each other in Moscow in 2013”. Do you think that this is possible?

S.Lavrov: Well, he said that this is possible, ask him.

Question: Do you think that this is possible? It has happened in Moscow allegedly.

S.Lavrov: I do not know what people can invent again. I think that I have read this story a couple of years ago, when all this started. Again, if people base the real policies vis-à-vis a country, state-to-state policies on the basis of “it is “possible”, on the basis of “highly likely”, this is shameful. I believe that what is being done in the context of the Russiagate in the US, as President V.Putin has repeatedly said, is the manifestation of deep domestic controversy, because the losers do not have the guts to accept that they have lost the elections.

Question: Foreign Minister, thank you very much.

S.Lavrov: Thank you.

#russia

0 notes