A Panther's Purpose

Why?

Erik groaned as his head turned to the side. He felt dizzy as well as confused. Even more so when his eyes slowly opened. He turned his head left and right to examine his surroundings. Something caught his eye. The train and sonic stabilizers just outside.

That's where we fought. He thought. He killed me there.

Then he looked down at himself. His first instinct was to feel his chest. He looked at his hand. No blood. He felt it once more. No wound.

Then came his attire, a sort of fancy robe with golden accents.

He sat up, looking around more only to see no one was around. He slowly moved his legs to the edge of the table, getting off of it and down onto his feet. He walked over to the glass, placing his hands onto it as he looked out.

"What the fuck happened..?" He asked quietly to himself, though not expecting a voice in returned.

"I brought you to my sister's lab. She healed you."

The sudden familiar voice caused him to quickly turn around. Well if it wasn't for the panther himself.

Erik scoffed. "Ain't this a bitch." He narrowed his eyes.

"Why didn't you just kill me? And heal me for what? To hold me prisoner? As my ancestors would agree, death would've been much better than bondage." The words he spoke were hard.

T'Challa only shook his head, walking up to him. "I did not have you healed to be held prisoner. I had you healed to become better."

Erik couldn't help but chuckle. "Better? A warrior like me can't be no better. And you can't do nothing that would suffice. Not for what I want." He snarled.

T'Challa's expression was unchanged as he glanced down at the floor. "You would rather die than to change." He stated.

"Damn straight." Erik confirmed. "I don't need this. Especially not from you. You and little miss princess are dead to me."

T'Challa only nodded. "That is the mindset I told her about. You do not have a good one. It is washed away by your training and long-term goal of defeating me for the overdose of power."

Erik rolled his eyes, getting annoyed by T'Challa's babbling as he moved closer so they were inches apart.

"I'd rather die to another challenge than to change for your 'better'." He told him.

Before T'Challa could respond, Shuri had entered the room. "Hey, hey! Lie back down I am not done with you yet!" She ordered Erik, pointing to the table.

Erik turned his attention towards her. "Well if it ain't for miss perfect." He grinned.

"She don't seem too happy with me."

"That is because I am not." Her eyebrows furrowed. "This outraged idea of letting you live." She said in a mumble as Erik sat back down onto the table.

T'Challa kept his eyes on his ignorant cousin. He wished he wasn't so hostile. He wanted to find a way to change him, whether he denied the thought or not.

While in thought, they locked eyes as Erik looked at him. "The hell you starin at?" He asked, snapping T'Challa out of his thoughts-almost startling him as he blinked.

"I am thinking." He said. "I know there is a way to change you."

Erik lowered his head, his eyes still on him. "Why you worryin about changin me so much? What-You need an extra little friend. You need somebody to play with? Fuck outta here." T'Challa could hear the deep but quiet growl in his voice.

He wanted to say, "It would be nice to befriend you. To have you be part of us as a union. To have you finally accepted as my beloved cousin." But he couldn't say that. Erik's response would be nothing short of dry.

"Do not talk to my brother that way. I don't have to do this, you know. I can easily reverse what I have done right this second." Shuri threatened him. She hated Erik.

But he only smiled boastfully. "Then do it, princess. Matter of fact, don't reverse nothin. Kill me with what you got." He challenged her, his golden canines showing for anyone to see.

Shuri's jaw clenched as she looked at him, the look in her eyes telling exactly what she would do had her brother not wanted him alive.

Erik laughed. "Just like you Wakandans. Can't go by your own demands."

Shuri growled at him, picking up one of her custom crafted knives she made for the Dora.

Before she could do anything, T'Challa grabbed her wrist. "Shuri! Lower your hand!" He demanded her. Shuri whined in frustration. "He is nothing but trouble, brother! How can you not see this?"

T'Challa looked back at Erik. "He is all talk. He is trying to get in your head." Erik only had that grin. That grin he always had when he cause trouble.

T'Challa walked over to him, looking down at him. "Wipe that grin off your face, N'Jadaka." He told him as he looked him in the eyes. It only encouraged him to do it more. "Or what? It ain't like you gonna kill me again. You want me alive, don't you?"

T'Challa leaned down to his ear. "The second I find out that this is impropable, I will get back to that. But I know you can change. And I will make sure of it." The strongness in his voice made Erik's response hesitant.

At this point, he really was wondering why he wanted him alive so badly. To change so forcefully. "I ain't gotta do nothin for you." He said as he looked up to his eyes. "Not for you, not for princess, not for this country."

T'Challa kept his eyes on him, scanning his frame for a short moment. "I will not argue." He assured.

"But your father never will show you around Wakanda, will he?" The statement he made as he turned around. Erik's eyes suddenly filled with rage. "Fuck you, man!" He shouted. T'Challa looked back at him.

Erik's grin was no longer presented. "You find it amusin your daddy killed mine? That he ain't get to fulfill his promises because of that son of a bitch!?"

He was especially angry now, the veins almost escaping him. T'Challa didn't respond. Erik's fists were clenched. This was it. He knew how to get to him now.

Shuri looked away. Erik scoffed and did the same. "Y'all ain't even got empathy. And y'all are supposed to care so much-"

"It is easier to care so much about an individual when he has done no harm to others." He was in his face again, this time truly done with Erik's unreasonable little tantrum.

But still he softened, seeing the tears ar the brim of Erik's eyes. But he didn't dare cry. "You really don't understand just what your daddy took away from me. My life. Dreams I knew would never come true. I had to be im foster care because of him. And I learned what you was keepin from us."

In the back of his throat, T'Challa could hear the choked up tears. "Some king." Said Erik.

T'Challa stayed silent, more so he walked away after he was done talking. Without much else to say, he was out of the lab.

Shuri, having heard the conversation, suddenly took a turn. She held her hands in front of her as Erik's head lowered and his jaw was clenched. "I am sorry about what our father did to yours. I do not believe anyone deserves that. But there is nothing my brother could have done." She told him.

"Do not take it out on him.." She said before turning away. Erik looked up at her for a moment, letting out a heavy breath before placing his hand onto his chest.