[PRIVATE: DGFone & Thewhistlerify]

[DGFone]

Delano looked on at Lina in confusion. Why wasn't she answering? His voice trembled. "Lina? Lina, why aren't you talking?" He forced himself to at least crawl towards her, whimpering from the pain and effort it took before finally settling next to her. He lay his head next to her, but wishing desperately that he was able to sit up and be next to her properly. "Lina, please! What's going on?" He found himself choking up as she remained still, not answering him. Why was she doing this? What was she ignoring him?

Umeme still held onto Lina, but didn't want to see Delano suffer like that. She didn't want to see any of them suffer. She gently nudged Lina in his direction, signaling that she could remain in the hug if she wanted to, but it would be much better if she joined Delano. At the very least, talk to him and acknowledge his existence. "We're still right here," she whispered to Lina. "nothing will go wrong. I promise you."

[TheWhistlerify]

Lina had to admit that it was quite difficult to remain motionless like that as she caught onto the uncertainty and concern in Delano's voice. It reminded her that, at the end of the day, her mate did have no control of what he was going through. Taking her sister's advice, she slowly joined him by lying down beside him, resting her head down next to his. "Don't you remember?" she asked, wondering whether there were some things he could recall.

"We kind of argued, in a way." she explained, deciding not to go into too much detail. "I tried to convince you to eat, but you refused and left. I decided to give you some time to calm down, but... You lost control of yourself again and ended up doing this to yourself..." she somehow turned his attention to his paws, feeling herself getting choked up again. "Delano... I don't know what to do anymore... I really don't think we can keep this up if the situation doesn't improve..."

[DGFone]

"I... remember that part," Delano admitted hesitantly, "I remember going outside... but not after that. Just waking up here." It wasn't entirely true. He did remember screaming up at the sky in anger, but he truly could not remember when he lost control completely. Trying hard to remember, he recalled foggily the confusion at discovering his paws covered in blood, but that was all. The next thing he knew, he was back in the den.

Wincing at the pain it caused, Delano forced himself to sit up so that he can embrace Lina. He knew for a while now that he himself was close to the breaking point, but he had no idea that Lina was too. Taking her into a hug, he felt her shake as she cried into his mane, and it in turn caused him to let lose his own tears. "You know I would never hurt you," he somehow managed to tell her despite hardly being able to get himself to talk. "We'll just need to..." he fell silent, truly understanding why Lina was feeling so bad now as well. Everything they were trying did not seem to be working. "I don't know what to do," he finally admitted, and hating himself for it. "But we'll get through it..."

But secretly to himself, he was seriously doubting it. Just as Lina feared but never mentioned, he too was beginning to truly worry about how long until he would do something irreversible either to himself or someone else? It really frightened him that he couldn't remember what he did to his paws, because he could have done almost anything then, and he had no idea.

Delano gripped onto Lina tighter, needing her comfort just as much as she needed his.

[TheWhistlerify]

Lina did not know how to react when Delano unexpectedly rose into a sitting position and embraced her in a hug. She hadn't expected him to do that because of his injured paws, and there was this small part of her that told her to move away because it might be dangerous. However, she forced herself to ignore that urge and stayed where she was, switching from crying into her sister's fur to crying into her mate's mane.


She didn't think much of it when he said that he'd never hurt her, not wanting to even think about the subject to begin with. Only when he tried to reassure her by telling her that they'd get through this even though he didn't know what to do did she realize that this was basically the first time he was seeing just how difficuflt this whole thing was for her as well. While she doubted that was going to make any significant difference, she hoped it would encourage her mate to get better faster.

[DGFone]

Umeme watched as Lina and Delano embraced each other, glad to see that whatever was going on between them, it wasn't terrible enough to cause them to avoid each other. When Delano had growled at Lina earlier, Umeme doubted that it was because he was actually mad at his mate, and it looked like that was indeed the case.

Walking over to where the remains of the gazelle were, she dragged it over to them. "Here you go you two, a little something to cheer you up."

Delano looked at the meat, and then somehow got himself to smile at Umeme. "Thanks, Umeme," he mumbled, and leaned down to grab some food. To say that it didn't taste good would be a lie, but he still wasn't exactly in the mood to eat. Still, he remembered how Lina reacted when he refused to eat the first time, and he didn't wish to repeat that again.

And he really was hungry. Not eating for the past couple of days combined with everything he was going through, he really needed to get more energy. Eating would at least help him heal faster from his physical wounds if not his mental ones, but that would at least be a start. He couldn't afford to let his body to rot away just because he was never in the mood to do anything.

[TheWhistlerify]

While Lina had already eaten after hunting down that gazelle with Umeme, she decided that perhaps eating a little more would help her cheer up (mainly bcause it would occupy her a little, which should help distract her). "Thanks..." she said quietly, smiling as her brother in law briefly placed a paw on her shoulder. What brightened up her mood the most was the fact that Delano was agreeing to eat now. Finally calming down, she joined her mate and also ate a little (although at a slower rate).

Muroki let out a sigh as his brother and sister in law calmed down. While he hadn't really noticed the cause of this particular incident, the important thing was that it was behind them now. And now that Delano had realized just how much stress his condition was putting Lina through, perhaps he would try to push himself into getting better. Quietly motioning for Umeme to follow him, they gave the two of them some space. "I hope his paws will be okay..." he said quietly, hoping that Delano would start to mentally recover soon.

[DGFone]

Umeme followed Muroki, having about to herself mention that it wouldn't be a bad idea to let Lina and Delano have some personal space. "I'm not really worried about his paws," she admitted, "those are physical wounds. They will heal no problem at all. I'm worried about... if he doesn't get better, it's not only him who is suffering right now. His paws are the least of our problems." She didn't need to mention that Lina was also suffering. They all were. Delano getting better would be a great relief for all of them.

As he ate, something from earlier in the day crept up in Delano's mind, nagging him. He tried to ignore it, but eventually gave in and knew that he had to mention it. "Listen, Lina, Sanders and Gakuru... their trial is tomorrow." He looked at her in the eye. "I want to go... I need to go." While it was true that he felt for several times now that doing something might help him, but he hoped that witnessing the end of the two lions that caused him so much misery would help him get closure with the nightmares once and for all. "I can't... simply wait. I don't feel myself getting better by waiting like last time. I guess what I want to say is that, even if you won't let me, I will still go. But I hope that you will... let me go there."

[TheWhistlerify]

Muroki nodded at what Umeme was saying, obviously agreeing with her. "I know... I just hate to think about the possibility of him unintentionally injuring himself on a larger scale..." There was also the subject of mobility, the opposite of which had been a main cause for Delano's nightmares the first time around. "The trial is tomorrow." he said, deciding he might as well fill her in on that information. "I hope he finally comes to after it's all over..."

To say Lina thought that going to the trial could turn out to be a very bad idea would have been an understatement. She was quite certain that even Delano knew that. But since they were counting on him getting better after the trial, then perhaps being there was just what he needed. "Okay... But I'm coming with you." she fell silent for a short moment before something came to her mind. "What if the king lets Hatari go?" she asked, wondering whether he's even thought of that possibility.

[DGFone]

Umeme looked over at where Delano and Lina were. "You're not the only one who's hoping that," she replied, "we all are." She knew that Dakari and Laini would also be delighted to know when Delano would get better, and if she wasn't mistaken, Kato would as well.

Delano thought about the question. "I... I really don't know, Lina. I know what he did... and I really do hate him for it. But at the same time, Umeme and Muroki are so insistent that he changed for the better..." He sighed. "The thing is... I think they are right. From the bit that I got out of him, and when he helped me save Muroki... I can't simply see him as the same lion who murdered my parents, can I?" He felt a few tears cover his eyes. "But Muroki and Lina... they weren't there when he bragged about doing all those things. They didn't see him laugh about murdering mom and dad... and I still want to kill him for that! I really do!" He buried his head beneath his paws, whimpering quietly at the memory.

[TheWhistlerify]

Muroki smiled slightly. "I really hope things will finally go back to normal once this trial is behind us." He was also hoping that the king would consider the change Hatari had gone through. "I already miss our little den." he said, knowing that they'd only spent a few nights in it. "We didn't get to spend enough time in it as we should, you know..." he added, gently nuzzling her. "I hope Hatari will be okay, too."

Lina quietly listened to Delano, knowing that she could not understand what he was feeling like because she hadn't been there to hear it either. However she was there when Hatari had tried to take advantage of her before his exile. True, he wasn't an almost insane murderer at the time, but still. "But that's in the past, right?" she asked, hoping to remind him of what he had said just a moment ago. "Like you said, you can't see him as the same lion anymore, can you?" Noticng that he was whimpering, she rested her head against his in an attempt to calm him down.