I ain't Afraid of no Zimwi!
Shabaha loved to do chaotic things for no reason. Tonight she felt like challenging herself to how long she could be chased by a certain mandrill by taking his prized Bakora Staff while he was getting more pigments to paint with. Rafiki had lost sight of Shabaha when she squirmed through bushes and rocks. The Bravest had spotted her next destination, the entrance to the Lion Guard lair.
Within said lair, Vitani had been observing the painting Rafiki was working on. She knew about the painting on top. Rafiki and Kiara told her first thing about the time when Scar had destroyed his Guard with the Roar, but she didn't quite understand what the other paintings beside it meant. Her answer came shortly...
Shabaha made a clumsy charge into the Lion Guard lair, having dropped the staff when she'd tripped over her own paws. The staff miraculously landed tip-first onto the wall Vitani had been fixed upon.
Startled out of her train of thought, Vitani groaned irritably as she whipped her head towards her Bravest member, "Shabaha! What do you think y-"
"Vitani, look!" Kasi cried. The Fiercest and Bravest darted their attention towards the now glowing painting in unison.
The first painting showed the usual Scar-Roaring-his-Guard-away visual. The next painting showed the four black masses forming pairs of glowing eyes while spinning inwards, forming a singular black mass. The black mass them sprouted sapient arms, seemingly fleshy appendages extending from the head, a pair of sinister yellow eyes, and a matching crooked grin. Kasi turned to her fellow Guard, aiming her question at her leader.
"What do you think it could mean, Vitani?"
Kiara was coming back home from a meetup with Vuruga Vuruga, leader of the buffalo herd. She had invited the matriarch to a royal gathering in which the Pridelanders would observe the arrival of fall. Flanking the Pridelands' princess were her two best friends, Zuri and Tiifu.
While Kiara and Zuri talked amongst themselves in anticipation of the gathering, Tiifu would keep nervously glancing back up at the full moon, remembering a tale her mother and all the other adults would tell her and the other cubs about a creature called the Zimwi. The Zimwi was a creature that would come out during a full moon, it was tall as two giraffes and had teeth sharper than a crocodile's, it was also said to feast on those who have seen it.
The green-eyed lioness spoke up, "S-Shouldn't we hurry? W-What if the Zimwi comes out?"
Zuri scoffed, "Oh, don't tell me you still believe in the Zimwi. The adults would just tell us that story as cubs so we couldn't sneak out late."
"I know, but.... we can't take any chances, right?"
"Tiifu, I thought you got over your fear of the dark." Zuri sighed, unintentionally leaving Tiifu in the dust while catching up with Kiara who was already far ahead.
"I did, it's just... It's just that I'm still scared of the Zimwi, that's all..." Tiifu half-lied.
Not realizing how far behind she was, Tiifu found herself stuck in a fork in the road. She had no idea which patch of trees her friends walked into. Her heart pounded as she glanced back and forth trying to pick which direction to go.
"...guys?"
Though the sound that suddenly broke the silence was merely the rustling of leaves, it was enough for Tiifu to pick up her pace. She needed to keep calm somehow. What did her friend Kuchimba tell her when it came to being in the dark? She closed her eyes and took a deep breath.
"There's nothing to fear down here, down here..." she quietly crooned to herself, "...'Cause none of your fears are here, down here..."
Suddenly, Tiifu heard a garbled breathing sound. It was like a high-pitched, pained wheeze. Tiifu was running now, not caring which route she went, even if it was the wrong one.
"There's nothing to fear down here, there's nothing to fear down here, there'snothingtofear-" she continued to repeat despite how it made no difference now, her fear overcame her mantra.
Tiifu's running was put to a screeching halt when she was met with a ghastly face, it had yellow eyes and sharp, yellow teeth. The gaseous form let out a frightening cry, causing Tiifu to go white. The lioness was now screaming, even crying a bit. Her fears had come true and it was now staring her in the face and chasing her.
"Kiara! Zuri! Where are you?! HELP!!" Tiifu screamed.
Kiara and Zuri reported to the Lion Guard that Tiifu got separated from the group. They’d made it though the grove before the Zimwi made itself known to Tiifu before chasing her.
Being Tiifu’s girlfriend, Vitani didn’t take kindly to the idea that Kiara and Zuri would leave Tiifu out there just to come all the way here and tell the Lion Guard that she was missing.
Kiara and Zuri admitted that they thought they could use backup when going back for Tiifu. Vitani impatiently and gruffly ushered for her fellow lionesses to hurry to where Tiifu was last seen.
They found Tiifu cornered against a patch of felled, long-dead trees. Luckily she was alive, but severely shaken from the chase and the sight of the beast.The beast in question appeared before the Lion Guard. They all looked in awe, realizing that this ghost had greatly resembled the figure in Rafiki’s painting.
Before a word could be uttered, the Zimwi unleashed a loud cry, causing the Guard to wince or cover their ears with their paws. Tazama was the only one who, quite literally, roared in pain.
The Zimwi halted its prolonged screech and let out a pained cry and contorted itself, holding its head where ears should have been. Vitani watched this display, realizing what the ogre’s weakness may have been;
If it took the Roar to create this monster, then it was what was needed to destroy it.
Vitani commanded her fellow lionesses to create a circle and roar in unison. The plan was working as the creature was now deforming and splitting apart as it kept making garbled screeches in pain. Vitani delivered a final blow with her Roar of the Elders, which finally got the monster to split itself apart into the four spirits that were contained inside. The floating heads of Scar’s undead Guard whirled about on their own until they’d finally faded away, peacefully being taken in by the Lions of the Past.
Dawn was beginning to rise, but everyone was deathly tired from the incredibly surreal Zimwi encounter. Everyone was likely going to sleep in today. Vitani and Tiifu were plopped by a tree close to Pride Rock. Tiifu pressed her head into Vitani's long chest fur, feeling herself gradually relaxing more and more. However, something made Tiifu realize that her partner had not been relaxed, herself. A rare occurence. Tiifu broke the silence.
"Vitani?"
"Hmm?" Vitani hummed, her throat rumbling against Tiifu's ear, which had been pressed against her chest.
"Your heart is pounding..." Tiifu observed, placing a paw on Vitani's own in an effort to comfort her if needed.
"I'm just tired." Vitani blurted in her monotone voice.
Tiifu knew not to believe that was the only case, "Were you scared by the Zimwi?"
"No, um..." Vitani gruffly blurted again, struggling to hide the fear in her widened eyes.
Tiifu raised her head to listen, gently squeezing Vitani's large, square paw.
"I wasn't scared of the Zimwi," Vitani pressed the top of her head with Tiifu's, "I was scared for you."
Silence returned as Tiifu blinked. She knew what Vitani meant. She knew how Vitani can get when seeing her girlfriend in danger. Vitani's protective tendencies are what definitely earned her her title as the Pridelands' Fiercest.
"Oh, Vitani..." Tiifu yawned, resting the back of her head on Vitani's wrists and brushing her own wrist against Vitani's chin, "You're such a caring person, I love you."
"You too..." Vitani sheepishly squeaked as she glanced upwards.
One of Vitani's biggest fears was not being seen as caring, as it made her feel like she was spiralling down the same psychopathic path her mother once had. A traumatizing sight like watching her mother lose her conscience on her last days made Vitani fear the possible deterioration of her very own mind. Hearing Tiifu's final remark before she'd drifted to sleep was so validating. It had been enough to make Vitani's eyes a bit wet.
Vitani rested her head atop Tiifu's exposed belly, pressing her face into it. She held Tiifu tight, not only in case of the possibility of Tiifu still being shaken from her encounter with the Zimwi, but out of fear of losing her. Her eyelids became heavier and heavier as she stared off into the distance until they finally closed for the night.