A Panther's Purpose

Apology

T'Challa walked up to the door of his cousin. He sighed, raising his fists and knocking on the door. "Erik.." He called out. There was no response.

He only knocked again. "I know you're in there.."

"I ain't got nothin' to say to you." Erik said coldly. T'Challa pressed his lips together. "Please, cousin. What do I have to do for you to forgive me?"

"Nothin'." He said. "Because it's clear you ain't ever gon' understand how I feel. Let's face it. This is a waste of time and I should be dead right now."

"No." T'Challa said sternly. "I won't admit to that."

He looked down, the palm of his hand flat on the door. "Please..Just let us talk one on one. I'll make it quick." He begged him.

"And I promise not to offend you and respect your father's honor." He added on.

Listening to dead silence for about a minute, he figured Erik wouldn't come out anytime soon. And so he sighed, a starting to turn away before he heard the door open behind him.

He turned around, seeing the obviously pissed off expression on Erik's face before he started to walk back to his bed.

T'Challa slowly walked into the room, closing the door behind him. He walked over to Erik who was sitting on the edge of the bed, facing the window as he fiddled with his ring.

"There ain't a moment I don't think about him, y'know.." Erik said to him. "Y'all can just brush it off because my dad was a 'traitor'. When I personally don't see any wrong with what he did."

T'Challa sat down beside him.

"And even if he wasn't dead, y'all still would've imprisoned him. My dad wouldn't have been in my life either way." He shook his head, keeping his eyes in the clouds.

T'Challa listened as he should have, placing his hand onto Erik's shoulder.

"I think I do understand." He told him. "If I were to put myself in your shoes, I can see how hard growing up must've been for you..After my father died, I was not ready to be without him either. And I couldn't imagine not having Shuri or my mother."

Erik brought himself to look at T'Challa. "So you know the feeling..Losin' somebody to something you never saw coming..Someone you looked up to. Just gone."

T'Challa looked back at him as he nodded. "I do. And the acceptance was hard." He found himself bringing his arm around Erik's shoulders. Erik didn't push him away. He only looked down.

"But..You're taking your father's death better than I ever did. And it's been so many years for me. I'm still grievin'."

T'Challa could see Erik opening up to him, glad they could have this discussion. "N'Jadaka..Look at me." He said to him, addressing him by his real name.

Hesitantly, Erik raised his head up and met eyes with his cousin. T'Challa gave him a reassuring smile. "You are a warrior. A strong one at that. Your father would not have wanted you to die. Not now. Not before your time. He would've wanted to see you become better. To reach your goal in a more pacifist way. You don't always have to hurt others to do good."

Erik knew he was right. But he didn't understand why he was right. "How do you do it, T..?" He asked him.

"Do what?"

"How do you forgive so easily..? It's like there's always room in your heart no matter how bad somebody's fucked up."

T'Challa chuckled softly. "That is because I know the difference between corrupt and perminantly damaged. You are not perminantly damaged. Simply because deep down from the start you knew you still had someone out there that loved you. Whether it be your fellow Navy Seals or CIA..Or me.."