Killmonger's One-Shot Collection

Howl

T'challa’s chest heaved in the dim light of the basement. His mind swirled with fearful thoughts. He was afraid of himself and what he knew he might do. He pleaded with his heart to stop pounding and the ache hammering in his temples to cease. He’d sweated through his clothing. It clung to his salty, dark and smooth skin. Sweat dripped from his forehead, from his brow, down his neck.

“Baba,” he pleaded to the lonely light source above, dizziness setting in, cementing his high fever. He was seeing doubles. It felt like he was dying but he knew better than that. “Help me stop it, baba,” he cried. His arms were cuffed and tied behind him. On top of that he was chained and tethered inside of an engineered metal cage. “Ancestors.. please,” he sighed fatigued, “I beg of thee. Purge me of this curse. Guide me! If not, then reinforce these bars so that I must stay here..”

Even as he was speaking his request, he felt his mind slipping. There were moments when he could not remember what he’d last thought of or said. Small details were escaping his memory at a quick rate. His sanity was beginning to flee him. “Nalani,” he whispered in deep mourning, “I am truly sorry.”

–

The moon, fully round and white rose high in the jet black sky and Nalani drove on the highway getting as far as she could away from her beloved fiance with much regret and pain in her gut. She wanted nothing more than to hold T'Challa through his ordeal and soothe him, letting him know that she still loved him no matter what happened. She knew his heart well and he was a gentle man, one of the sweetest she’d ever known. She’d move mountains for him if only she could. However, the plan they’d come up with together was for her to tie him up, lock him up, then get as far away from him as she possibly could without him knowing where she was going. She had to follow the plan if she wanted to survive. This was a matter of life or death.

“Nalani.. Come, I must tell you something.. very important,” he’d said soberly when they’d gotten serious as a couple. They were in his home and he didn’t seem to know where to start, starting and stopping before looking her dead on. He exhaled. “I have.. a condition,” he said carefully. Nalani waited before shaking her head impatiently. He exhaled again. “When I am in love, which is rare… a certain frenzy will come over me. It is an animalistic..,” he searched for the right word, “obsession.” Nalani crossed one thigh over the other, the high split of her dress revealing smooth deep brown skin. He looked away as she grabbed his hand to play with his long fingers. “I don’t think you are grasping the seriousness of this matter,” he muttered pulling his hand away when she attempted to kiss his pinky ring.

“T'Challa, I’ve been known to be passionate. You’ll soon discover we have that in common,” Nalani smiled moving to sit in his lap. He stood before she could.

“Nalani, on the full moon, I will transform into a creature of extreme animal lust. You will have to restrain me and get away, as far as you possibly can for I will hunt you and no one but you until the sun comes up.”

“And if you catch me,” Nalani teased. He was silent and his serious expression caused her smirk to falter.

“In the interest of full disclosure, those women are not on this earth today. Not in this plane. I understand if you wish to leave me. You would not be the first and you would be safe.” The sad note of his voice touched Nalani’s heart and she walked over to her man, hugging him near to her.

“I fear.. that my lust for you is too great,” he sighed. “One of these full moons I will transform.” He handed her a gun with silver bullets. “I trust you to do all you can to escape.”