Ten - Challenge Accepted
"Somebody do something!"
"Kalyna-" T'Challa's voice calling her name stopped her and broke into her racing thoughts.
She turned to face him. "I thought you were preparing for the challenge."
"I am, but I have to do something first." He held up his hand and removed his cherished ring, that which had belonged to his father before his death. He held it out to her.
She gasped. "Your ring."
"I want you to take it. Keep it safe. Just in case."
She shook her head firmly. "I-I cannot. I can't take it away from you. I know how special it is-"
"Please, I am giving it to you. Please." He took her hands and placed the ring in her palm, folding her fingers over it. "Now, I must go. I will see you at the falls." With a small smile he turned and began to leave.
She was too shocked to respond. Luckily though, she found her words again before he disappeared. "T'Challa - good luck."
He smiled and nodded his thanks before disappearing this time.
Had she known then that those were the last words she would speak to him, she would have said something more.
"He will never beat T'Challa," said Shuri with confidence as everyone prepared for the challenge. It was much less of a crowd this time, only Shuri and Ramonda, the Dora, Zuri, Nakia, Kalyna, Niyah and Felix, and the two challengers. "He should have just come to the first challenge and gotten it over with."
Her comment though, did not lessen any of the tension felt there in that moment - everyone was equally tense, and more so than even the previous fight with M'Baku.
T'Challa turned to face his cousin. "Please, think about this. We do not have to fight. Put down your weapons and we can settle this another way."
"I've waited my entire life for this! I killed, I lied, I cheated-" Erik stripped off his shirt, revealing his bare chest and arms covered in little markings. Scars, she realized.
He traced his fingers along one arm. "All these, one for each kill." As he tossed his shirt to the side, he looked up and nodded to where she stood with Shuri and Ramonda. She looked away.
He turned back to T'Challa. Taking a spear he snapped the long handle to make it shorter and pointed the blade in his adversary's direction. "I killed in America, Afghanistan, Iraq. I killed my own brothers and sisters right here on this continent - just so I could get here and kill you. I'm willing to do whatever it takes - what are you willing to do?"
"Come on, T'Challa! You can do this!" cheered Shuri.
T'Challa had the power of the Black Panther stripped away as was customary. Then-
"Let the challenge begin!"
Erik wasted no time - as soon as the words were out of Zuri's mouth he lunged at T'Challa with a yell and both blades. Luckily, T'Challa moved fast and held up his shield to block the blow.
T'Challa sliced his opponent's cheek, and it also didn't help that he kicked his legs out from beneath him and Erik went splashing into the water. He quickly scrambled to his feet, now dripping wet. He had looked pissed off before...
Now he looked like an enraged beast, eyeing its prey, ready for the kill...
Kalyna grabbed Shuri's hand and squeezed it tightly.
It was clear from the beginning that Erik had the upper hand in the fight. He wasn't lying when he said he had been preparing his entire life for this moment - he was determined to win, to succeed, and he was doing just that.
T'Challa put up a fair fight in the beginning, but it soon became clear that he was no match for the viciousness of his opponent. All that anger accumulated over the years he'd saved for this moment, and now that he was here, Erik let loose his wrath, leaving T'Challa pretty much defeated from the beginning. And without the power of the Black Panther to help him...
No, no, he's doing alright, he can do this. He can still win, Kalyna told herself. She watched T'Challa evade another of Erik's slashes with the blade.
But everything can change in just a moment.
First Erik sliced T'Challa's leg, then his side. Then he seized this moment of T'Challa's vulnerability and used it to drive his spear through the other man's side.
This created a wave of gasps and cries throughout the crowd, namely from his mother, sister, and friend.
T'Challa grabbed his side and stumbled, landing in the water, blood dripping through his fingers.
Get up. Get up, damn it, get up, Kalyna willed him.
"This is for my father!" Erik raised the spear, ready to strike again, this time to kill-
"NO!" Zuri's cry and his spear blocking Erik's blow stopped him. "He is not the reason for your father's death. I am! Take me instead."
"No, Zuri no-" T'Challa tried to raise himself up, but couldn't find the strength.
Erik stared painfully at Zuri for a moment before that pain fell away in an instant and he was back to enraged. "I'll take you both, Uncle James!" And with that he plunged his blade through Zuri's stomach. This sent another wave of gasps and cries through the crowd.
"ZURI NO!" T'Challa collapsed into the water in a heap beside his now dead friend. "ZURI! Zuri - no!"
"IS THIS YOUR KING?!" roared Erik, throwing down his weapons and repeatedly kicking T'Challa in the gut, making all the spectators flinch. "Is this your king?! Is this your protector?! Your leader?! Look at him! Your precious, mighty Black Panther!" T'Challa somehow managed to raise himself onto his knees, only to have Erik deliver his knee to T'Challa's face.
She couldn't watch this anymore. "Somebody do something!" she cried, close to tears herself. When nobody made to move, she did herself.
Shuri held her back. "No Kalyna, we can't interfere!"
"Zuri did-"
"And he paid for it with his life," Ramonda reminded her shakily.
She took a step forward. The Dora Milaje were surrounding her in seconds. "My Lady, if you move again we will have to stop you," Okoye warned. Kalyna felt Shuri's arms wrap tighter around her.
Despite being held back, she could still yell. "T'Challa! T'Challa - show him who you are!"
"Come on, Brother!" wailed Shuri, already in tears.
"Is there nothing we can do?" Ayo questioned Okoye. The general's lip trembled but she said nothing.
Erik picked up the beaten and bloody T'Challa, hoisting him up onto his shoulders and stepping to the edge of the cliff. "I'M KING NOW!" And with that, he hurled T'Challa off the edge.
Noooooo! Love that scene though, so powerful! I get chills every time! I have to admit that this 'killing T'Challa off' really shocked me when I first saw the movie - I was like 'how are they going to revive him?!" What's your favourite moment from the movie? I'm curious :)
Thank you so much for reading and I hope you enjoyed! And, if you've started following my 'Infinity War' story I finally updated the first chapter! Please go check it out if you're interested! Thanks, bye for now! :)