[PRIVATE: DGFone & Thewhistlerify]

[DGFone]

Delano didn't say anything as Lina left. Part of him wanted her to stay, but he was too mad to care about that. He asked her to leave her alone, and she did. If anything, he felt slightly better now that she was gone, because she did as he asked, but the relief was much less than he hoped. He placed his head on the ground, closing his eyes again.

Umeme watched Lina walk away and knew that if they didn't do anything, things would only get a lot worse. "Go knock some sense into your brother," she hissed at Muroki, "I'm going to talk with Lina." Umeme wasn't angry at Muroki, but she needed him to understand that she wasn't giving him any other options, and he better do as she told him. Afterwards, she will simply apologize later on for hissing at him.

She quickly got up, giving Delano a nasty glare, and ran off after Lina. "Lina! Wait!" She quickly caught up to her sister, and slowed to a stop. "You can't just leave him now," she said, "it's not the right thing to do. No matter how angry you are right now." She could see it clearly on Lina's face that Lina was much more angry than hurt, if at all.

[TheWhistlerify]

Muroki didn't need any clarifications in order to know that Umeme was angry at Delano and not at him, even if he did have to admit that she looked quite threatening when she was hissing. He doubted she'll take that well as a compliment though. While she headed over to Lina he did as he was told and went to talk with his brother. "What was that all about?" he asked, hoping that his brother had a good explanation.

Lina rolled her eyes upon hearing her sister behind her. It's not that she was angry at her, but she didn't feel like having anyone trying to tell her not to be mad, because she was literally fed up. "I can leave if I want, which is what he wants anyway." she said, not stopping. She realized that she was sounding as if she was angry at everybody, and since she didn't want that she let out a sigh. "I'm sorry, don't get me wrong, I'm not mad at you."

[DGFone]

Delano groaned when he heard Muroki near him. "I just want to be left alone!" he growled, "how hard is it for you to understand?" He got up quickly to try and force Muroki away, but as he turned around to face his brother, his legs gave away and he fell to the ground, gasping in pain.

When he recovered from the fall, Delano looked at Muroki, feeling more shamed now than angry. "Everything hurts," he complained, "and I just..." he didn't finish what he started to say, instead curling up as tightly as he could, trying to ignore the pain that his leg was causing.

Umeme grinned as she resumed walking after Lina. "I know you're not angry with me," she replied, "and by all means, be mad. I don't see why you shouldn't be." She looked at Lina, her grin fading as she turned serious again. "Don't go," she said simply, "I am certain that when Delano will regain his mind, he won't want you to leave either." She looked back behind her, but Delano and Muroki were already quire far away. "Go back to him," Umeme said, almost ordering Lina, "Delano's in pain, and acts like he wants to be left alone because of it, but I am certain that it's only on the surface." She nudged Lina back in the direction they came from. "Go back to him. He needs you."

[TheWhistlerify]

Muroki frowned at what his brother was saying. "No Delano, I do not understand. I don't understand why you want to be left alone after being forced away from all of us and imprisoned in that horrible cave, and neither can Lina." Umeme told him to knock some sense into his brother and he was going to do just that. "I thought that being away from Lina hurt more than your leg. Isn't that what you kept telling me? You can't just send her away like that, do you even know how much she missed you?"

Lina let out a sigh. Sometimes a male's ego could drive one crazy. She herself didn't see a reason why Delano should always pretend as if he was alright and as if there wasn't a problem. Stopping, she looked at her sister with somewhat of a frown. "I hate it when you're right." right now Delano needed her, and she was going to be there for him. "Come on, let's go back." she said, turning around and slowly walking back alongside her sister.

[DGFone]

Delano uncurled himself just enough so that he could look at Muroki again. As much as he hated to admit it, Muroki was correct in everything he had just said. "It does hurt more..." he whispered, closing his eyes briefly as he struggled with his feelings. More and more he was starting to understand how much Lina missed him, and for that matter, how much he was starting to regret telling her to go. "Wh- what am I gonna do?" he asked Muroki, his voice quivering.

Umeme smiled. "Yeah, let's go." She walked back with Lina, hoping that by the time they would get back, Muroki would have finished enough with Delano that they won't have to wait, and Lina won't leave again. As they walked, she decided that it might be a good idea to tell Lina what she and Muroki were planning. "Remember the waterhole you and Delano found?" she asked, "Muroki and I thought that it will be a good idea if all four of us went there tomorrow, together."

[TheWhistlerify]

Muroki nearly frowned at his brother's stupid question. "First of all stop acting like an idiot." he couldn't recall ever talking to Delano so harshly, but it seemed to be achieving it's goal. Delano had to understand that he wasn't the only one who got hurt because of everything that has happened. "Secondly you should apologize to her." it was obvious that he should apologize, but Muroki said it just in case Delano was that clueless.

Lina considered Umeme's idea. Perhaps what she and Delano could really use was some time at their special place, and going there with Umeme and Muroki will probably make it even better. "That sounds like a nice idea." in the distance she could see that Muroki was talking to his brother. Just because she listened to Umeme and came back didn't mean that she wasn't upset at Delano's behavior, and she hoped that Delano would come to his senses.

[DGFone]

Delano shrank back when Muroki scolded him, but he nodded anyways. After a while he looked up and saw Lina and Umeme approaching them, so he got up unsteadily to his feet. Walking towards the lionesses as fast as he could, he stopped just in front of Lina. "Lina..." he said softly, his voice quivering, "I... I'm sorry... I don't want you to leave... Please forgive me..." He tried smiling at her, but gave up when he wasn't able to hold the smile up for long.

Umeme grinned when Lina liked her idea. "Let's do it then!" she said excitedly, and was about to say something else when she noticed Delano making his way slowly towards them. "See? Told you," she told Lina, emphasizing her smugness.

[TheWhistlerify]

Muroki saw Lina and Umeme coming closer and decided not to say anything so to not interrupt. He personally expected that convincing Lina to come back will take Umeme longer. Lina didn't say anything but gave Delano a short nuzzle. He was really cute when he was sorry. "But don't ever do that to me again." she said with a frown, taking a finger (or whatever) and touching it to his nose a few times as she spoke. After that her usual smile returned and she nuzzled him again.

[DGFone]

Delano smiled when Lina nuzzled him. "I won't," he whispered, "I promise." As he said this, he meant every word. He would do whatever he can to keep his promise and never force Lina away from him ever again. He returned Lina's nuzzle, glad to have her back once again. "I shouldn't have told you to go," he said, "I... I'm glad you decided to come back... I needed you, I still need you."

Seeing that Delano and Lina were together again, Umeme smiled and returned to Muroki's side. "It worked," she said, grinning, "you did your job well. Good work!" She then also leaned over to nuzzle him. "Sorry for being angry at you," she added, "I wasn't really, but I needed you to talk to him." She looked at him in the eyes. "Sorry about that."

[TheWhistlerify]

Lina chuckled to herself as she rested her head in Delano's mane. "When we were walking back here Umeme suggested that all four of us went to the waterhole you and I found together." she said, smiling at the idea. "What do you think?" now that Delano was back they could all spend time together. Not that they used to, but it sounded like a nice idea.

Despite having never suspected that Umeme was angry at him, Muroki couldn't help but feel happy when she apologized. It was like an insurance. Beside, he liked the apologetic look in her eyes whenever she made an apology. "Yeah, I really did knock some sense into him didn't I?" he said smugly, returning her nuzzle. "Now that I'm thinking back, sometimes our father would speak to us like that, but only on special occasions." he often wondered what would his parents say to him and Delano if they could.