Upendi?
MaruZeku and Larxel
As a general rule, the Pride Lands were brimming with life. The majestic Pride Rock with the ruling lions: to the Elephant graveyards where the hyenas skulked. The dry Savannah and the beautiful Oasis- where all of this worlds outcasts eventually ended up. And occasionally, the rejected from other worlds turned up on its soil…
A swirling mist of Darkness appeared in between the trees from seemingly nowhere, billowing outwards, a mixture of purple and black. From out of it's depths emerged five lions of varying sizes and colours. The first out was the only female in the group, a bright yellow lioness with a rather unusual mane. It was odd in itself that a lioness should have a mane, but she had one that could be described as two, sticking up like antennae. She was through the opening corridor like lightning, she span round to face it again with an air of smugness.
Next out was the smallest lion in of the party, a slate blue male with his mane hanging limply over one eye.
"No XII, if my generally impeccable memory serves me correctly, you were told to wait?" the lion said in a mainly blank tone, tinged with annoyance.
"My most humble apologies, emo kid" 'no XII' responded sarcastically turning away from the smaller lion, flicking him casually with her tail in the process.
"Can it, Larxene" said a graceful looking, pink haired lion as he walked into the world.
Larxene snorted. "You going soft Marly?"
In between twitching at the grammar of the lionesses question, the blunette said;
"We are here for a purpose. So would you refrain from being a-" he called her something in Hebrew- "- until we leave?"
The pupose in question was to fill today's quota-one hundred hearts each and also to observe the world and its inhabitants in general for future missions.
"Are those the ever charming tones of Zexion I hear?" that was the fourth lion, a cocky redhead- his mane was far the most impressive. He hadn't changed much entering this world then.
"What did he call me?" Larxene demanded.
There was a short pause where the lion debated on the pros and cons of revealing exactly what his superior had called his secret crush (how he learnt the most insulting term in all of the Hebrew language was anyone's guess-knowing Axel it wont have been an innocent sequence of events). He made his decision and opened his mouth-
"Axel, just keep quiet. For once?" pleaded the final lion. He was another blonde- his mane fashioned in what could only be described as a mullet.
"Wise words, IX" Zexion said flatly. "Can we move on?"
"My names Demyx…" the lion whined trailing behind the blunette who had taken his leave with out bothering to wait for the others. Although quite annoyed with the blatant assurance that they would follow, the other four walked after him.
A little while later they had left the Oasis and were walking across an open plain, the grass reaching up past their knees. Marluxia sped up slightly and loped forward so he was level with Zexion.
"You okay?"
"Shouldn't I be?" the shorter replied, but he didn't sound as emotionless and/or annoyed as he ordinarily was. In fact he sounded a tiny bit touched.
Marluxia shrugged and opened mouth to say something but was cut off by a skinny hand that had just appeared from the grass and poked his nose.
"Yes, why shouldn't he be okay?" the hand retreated into the grass.
"What the- ?!"
"Ha! He's with you he has no problem" the hand declaired re-emerging from the grass, revealing itself to be attached to the arm, then body of wizened looking creature that almost everyone simply thought was a monkey. However Zexion recognized it as a Mandrill by the name of Rafiki. Numerous facts flashed throught the schemers mind; the Mandrill was by and large an inhabitant of this world: his name meant friend in Swahili: had a habit of giving away good advice and seemed to know everything about everything. And the last time he had been seen in this particular part of the Pride Lands-
"What the hell was that?" Axel asked, running up with Larxene, Demyx shortly behind them both.
"His name's Rafiki, can we please move?" Zexion asked backing away from the place the animal in question had just disappeared from, as if expecting it to explode.
"Why?" all of the lion!nobodies asked together. Gentle humming interrupted them and the all looked round to Larxene's back, where Rafiki was currently lounging playing with the lioness's tail. He noticed he had been spotted by the now group and leapt off her back just in time to avoid Axel's swiping claws.
He tugged on Larxene's tail and called; "Quick catch me, for I am a lion and you are monkeys!" Then he danced of out of reach.
Enraged at having the annoying little creature using her as a climbing frame, Larxene immediately gave chase, Axel shot after her and after a moment of debating Demyx followed his friend.
"Come on Zexion!" Marluxia called, after taking a few paces forward.
Groaning, Zexion reluctantly padded over. Somehow the baboon had scrambled up a cliff face without any of the other three catching him. He was holding onto a long green vine.
"Hurry now!" he encouraged/taunted, leaping off the ledge he was standing on and swinging away.
Laxene and Axel where in the lead chasing after him against the wall of the cliff, followed by Demyx, followed by Zexion and Marluxia.
They all hurtled round the corner at great speed, only to crash into each other when the pyro and nymph braked sharply.
"Where are we?" Demyx asked, peering round Axels hair. It looked sort of like they where back at the Oasis, but. Nicer some how. The reason for the leading lions quick halt, was because of a river directly in front of them. Axel and Larxene both detested water.
The shaman appeared in front of them, hanging upside down.
"Even you nobodies can reach Upendi" he proclaimed. And before any one knew what had happened they were all in green leaf boats, shaped like hearts. Larxene and Axel were pressed back to back in a bid to get away from the surrounding water, Demyx looked delighted to be in the midst of his element and Marluxia wa/s looking worriedly at his chosen partner who was smacking his head repeatedly on the strangely hard leaf that was acting as a safety bar.
All three boats were carried into a pitch black tunnel and the music started to play. The baboon laughed from his perch on Demyx's boat and as they emerged from the other end of the tunnel he began to sing.
There's a place where the crazy moon
Makes the monkeys sing and the baboons swoon
He caught a lotus flower and springing to backwards to present it Marluxia who was (to his annoyance) quite impressed by it's quality but then attempted to push the baboon off the back of the boat. Rafiki was totally unfazed and landed on a conveniently placed lily pad and carried on singing;
And the sulty scent of the lotus bloom
Will carry you away
The aqua phobic among them were too busy screaming as they were flung down a water fall to appreciate the amazing choreography that all the animals where dancing too- where exactly the animals had appeared from was a mystery- it was not lost on their resident musician. Demyx was having the time of his life surrounded by the two loves of his life: music and water. He was the first to understand the meaning of the word Upendi next to, of course, the slightly disgruntled Schemer.
Bang. Bang. Bang.
…As the stars come out to play
In Upendi
Where the passion fruit grows sweet…
Marluxia slid his paw onto the 'safety bar' to prevent Zexion from hitting his head on it again. Gently he pushed his head back upright.
"Stop it, that's got to hurt"
Obediently Zexion stopped bashing his own head in, but looked slightly concussed.
…And it's so divine
That you lose your mind…
"Anyone got any idea what the hell is going on?!" Axel shouted over the singing, as he wrestled with a large pink leaf that had been forced over his mane. It clashed horribly with his hair.
Demyx laughed as he fell down a small waterfall and called back;
"He's said, we're in Upendi. Come on you know why you're here! With Larxene" he added mischievously
Axel looked like he was about to throw up.
As it sweeps you off your feet
Larxene looked at him curiously, her face no where near as sarcastic and/or disgusted as Axel would have expected it to be.
"What does he mean?"
In Upendi
Without a worry or a care
Zexion said something else in what sounded vaguely Egyptian- it probably translated to something along the lines of 'Bullsh-'
By now Marluxia had figured out what Upendi meant and was having a fairly similar reaction to Zexion. A rather confused jumble of questions went through his mind; should he kill the baboon? Should they just leave via portal and pretend it never happened? Exactly how had the Mandrill made the Passion fruit so sweet (fruits where about the only plant he had difficulty with)? And probably the most important- did that mean that the object of his affections felt the same way about him?
It just takes two
To make it true
Your heart will lead you there
"Told you we did too have hearts" Demyx proclaimed triumphantly. Apparently he thought the opinion of the demented monkey that all the others pretty much loathed would count for something.
"You just need to find them" Rafiki agreed taking a deep breath to resume his song.
You better watch your step 'cause the path is steep
Better hold your breath cause the-
" ARGGGGHHHHHHHHH " Axel and Larxene screamed together as their leaf was ripped out from beneath them and they fell towards a basin of water. Somehow, they managed to end up perched on the rim of the dish, before they leapt away from the water as Demyx landed in it sending spray everywhere.
It's a long way down over Lovers' Leap
But falling's half the fun!
Mercifully both Nymph And Pyro landed back in their boat- although Demyx managed to miss his- and they promptly both latched onto each other.
In Upendi
Where the passionfruit grows sweet
And it's so divine
That you lose your mind
As it sweeps you off your feet
Demyx pulled himself out of the water and joined a conga line of animals dancing to the music.
Marluxia was totally oblivious to this as he was busy trying to stop Zexion choking on a passion fruit. Because his brain was starved of oxygen the normally logical schemer was moving too much for the botanist to use his power and get the fruit out. Eventually Zexion passed out from lack of oxygen and Marluxia could withdraw it with relative ease. Not that it was that much comfort to either of them.
In Upendi
Without a worry or a care
It just takes two
To make it true
Your heart will take you there
Marluxia pulled the thankfully smaller nobody as far away from the edges as he could get, as it was likely the now unconscious lion would fall out and possibly drown. This resulted with the blunette curled up against Marluxia's chest- something that would Zexion wouldn't do if he was threatened with blindness were he awake.
Not surprisingly everyone but Demyx where keen to kill the silly shamanm preferably as soon as possible. Although, Marluxia thought holding Zexion carefully away from the potentially deadly river and the other two far in front of them, I do owe him for some things…
You can beat the bush like there's no tomorrow
From Tanganyika to Kilimanjaro
Rafiki was suddenly upon a huge mountain, he lifted it's peak like it was on a hinge and hundreds of little pink hearts flew from it's centre.
"That's sorted the quota at least" Larxene thought. She thought she may have figured out what Demyx was getting at earlier, though- she was annoyed with herself for thinking this- it was too good to be true…
But you'll find Upendi wherever you are
Oh underneath the sun
"Upendi, it means love, doesn't it?" All the conscious nobodies thought simultaneously.
In Upendi
Where the passionfruit grows sweet
And it's so divine
That you lose your mind
As it sweeps you off your feet
"Demyx! Get us down!" Axel, Larxene and Marluxia shouted from on top two water sprouts. Demyx tore himself reluctantly away from the conga line, well aware he was about to miss possibly the best water slide in all the worlds, and directed them down. Of course he joined in with the singing.
In Upendi
Without a worry or a care
It just takes two
To make it true
Your heart will take you there
Upendi!
All four lions were returned safely to the ground though none moved for a while. A few minutes later Axel and Larxene realized they were still hugging each other out of fear of the water and promptly let each other go. Whilst Demyx rolled around laughing, Marluxia totally blanked them as he tried to revive the still unconscious Zexion.
"Nine! Get over here" Marluxia ordered. Demyx stopped laughing and trotted over to Marluxia. It honestly didn't occur to him that he was under no obligation to do what Marluxia told him, he was Marluxia's superior. However he rather suspected that the instruction would relate to wakening the dead-to-the-world blunette, and he was simply to kind hearted to bother with refusing.
Without waiting for instructions, he sent a blast of freezing cold water at his superiors face, bringing him back to the world of the living with a splash.
Down In Upendi
Way down
In Upendi!
"Come on" Larxene said impatiently, and she and Axel turned away and ran off in between the beautiful trees, quickly followed by the others. As they ran they heard the old Baboons voice gently fade into nothing.
Down In Upendi
Way down
In Upendi…
They didn't stop until they where back at the Oasis- Marluxia half dragging Zexion along. They all flopped onto the grass and were quiet for a long time.
"That" Axel said eventually. "Was the worst thing I've ever been subjected too in my entire non-existence"
"Including that time when you walked into Larxene when she was about to shower?" Marluxia asked promptly.
Both Larxene and Axel shot him death glares, accompanied with fire and lightning that were more than likely to make the phrase more literal than was probably necessary. The streaks of yellow and red where absorbed into the Lexicon and Zexion shot them all a look that clearly said: 'If you wish to retain the ability to walk then I'd advise you to stop trying to take away each others ability to walk'.
"Yes, including that". Larxene and the others had a few seconds to process that reply and the various ways it could be taken before Demyx beat them all to the most likely.
"Ooh, I bet that means that you didn't not like it that much. I bet that there were bits of that-" he looked back at the way they had came, "-you didn't mind either! I know that Marly and Zexy liked some of it"
Demyx said all of this so fast that he got a good head start before the others had figured out what he said. But even as they all sent various spells and weapons after him, they had to admit. He did have a point…