[PRIVATE: DGFone & Thewhistlerify]

[DGFone]

Umeme tore into a run as soon as Lina was ready, expertly guiding the gazelle into the ambush spot. Giving off another burst of speed, the animal tried to escape, and just as planned, ran straight past Lina's spot, who jumped from her hiding place and straight at the poor animal's throat. The poor thing never had a chance and fell quickly, it's life ending in the death choke-hold of Lina's.

Umeme slowed down, grinning. "That was... fun!" It felt great to be able to exert so much energy again, and they got an excellent meal out of it to boot. "Muroki and Delano will sure like this one as well. But," she grinned, "they didn't catch it, so I don't think they would mind if we took the really tasty bits."

---

Somewhere, Delano found his voice. "Why did you do it?" he asked softly. "Why did you kill them?"

Sanders just looked at him. "Someone like you wouldn't understand why I 'did it'," he replied. "Even if I told you, you wouldn't understand, and I don't feel like wasting my breath. Especially not to someone like you."

Delano let out a warning growl. He came here to get answers, not to be insulted by an elitist lion. "Why did you kill our parents then?" he demanded, his patience fading fast. "They didn't even live here!"

Sanders paused. "Oh, so that's why you were so keen on getting at me? I sent someone to kill your parents? I didn't know that."

What really ticked off Delano was that it really did sound like Sanders had no clue. How could he not know who he had killed? "You didn't know? How could you have not known?" He felt tears stream down his face gain, realizing that the one responsible for the death of his and Muroki's parents didn't even remember doing so.

Sanders simply shrugged. "Oh, Delano... let me put it this way..." He gestured as though deep in thought. "The day I sent someone to visit your parents, it must have been the most important day of your life... But for me..." he struggled to find an appropriate phrase. "Just another hunt, I think. You don't remember every single pray you catch, do you? That's what your parents were like to me. Just another piece of prey."

Inside, Sanders was gloating in the fact that Delano was losing his temper. It would only be a matter of time before the fool would stop thinking properly and do something very stupid.

[TheWhistlerify]

Lina managed to perfectly time her assault, closing her jaws directly on the gazelle's neck. That, as well as the force of the impact that sent it to the ground, was pretty much the end of their prey's short lived struggle. "What a blast!" While every lion and lioness knew that hunting for sport was strictly forbidden, there was no rule that said one coulsn't enjoy a legal hunt. "I'm sure they wouodn't mind. And even if they did, I woulen't care." She laughed for a brief moment before digging in with her sister.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Muroki could feel the anger rise within him as Sanders compared his parents to nothing but helpless prey. It made him feel sick, but he didn't let it show. There was no way he was going to lose his temper like he had with Hatari. He'd promised himself he wouldn't. "When was the last time you took a walk and smelled the fresh after the rain or enjoyed the sunset?" he asked with genuine curiosity, walking between Sanders and Delano and standing there. He couodn't afford to have Delano do anything stupid.

Sanders looked at him with a sort of mocking expression before rolling his eyes, obviously not thinking much of what Delano's brother was saying. "For some lions and lionesses these little things are what life is all about." Muroki had no idea how Sanders could actually enjoy killing other lions for no reason, and he doubted Sanders had a good answer. Instead, maybe he could get different kind of answers.

[DGFone]

Umeme dug into the catch as well. "Mmm, I forgot how good food tastes." He stomach rumbled in agreement, and she was glad that their hunt was successful. Plus, she know that this gazelle would be enough for all four of them, so it was only a matter of eating now, and returning to Muroki and Delano with the rest. She could already imagine Muroki's reaction for when they will bring the food back.

---

Sanders rolled his eyes at Muroki's remark. "Simple minds are amused by simple things," he remarked, "not me. I desire more. You see, I saw an opportunity and I took it." He winked at Delano. "You and I are much the same. Far more so than you realize."

"I am nothing like you." Delano growled at Sanders. "And our parents are not simple minded. They are smarter than you ever will be!"

Sanders just grinned back. "I outsmarted them once, didn't I? I don't think they were smarter than me. I mean come on, there was two of them, right? I only send one lion to do these killings for me, it attracts less attention. How dumb had they to be in order to fall for it, while outnumbering their adversary two to one? Quite dumb, I would say so." He grinned at Delano, delighted at how close he could bring Delano to the breaking point.

Delano was just about ready to lunge at the lion, if it wasn't for Muroki holding him back. "You take that back!" he shouted. "You take that back right now!"

[TheWhistlerify]

Lina chuckled at her sister's statement. "Yeah!" she exclaimed, her mouth full. "This tastes really great!" The two sisters continued to eat their fill until they were both no longer hungry. Since the dead gazelle also weighed less now that they'd eaten from it, carrying it back to the royal den was going to be easy. "Let's carry this back. We wouldn't want our two lions to starve to death, would we?" she asked, placing one side of the gazelle on her back.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Simple minds or not," said Muroki, "it's amusement nonetheless. The only difference is the source." He frowned as Sanders continued to push his brother's sensitive points, especially because Delano kept falling for what the former leader of the underworld was saying. "Is this the 'more' you desire?" he asked, feeling disgusted. How could anybody be finding amusement in something like this?

He slightly shook his head, unable to understand. "Just look at yourself..." he said somewhat quietly. "The underworld has been long wiped out. And now those two lions who served you and Hatari are not helping you anymore as well... Leaving only you..." Why wasn't Sanders trying to change his ways now that it was all over? Why keep going like this?

Muroki's expression turned into a less stern one as he continued. "Right now you're facing the only lion in this kingdom who might show you some compassion." A short silence followed. Everybody had to have a little bit of good inside of him. It had to be so. "This has gone for too long. Sanders..." he took in a deep breath. "Let me help you... What do you say?"

Spoiler: show

Cue

[DGFone]

Umeme nodded and moved over to the other end of the gazelle. Picking it up, the two lionesses carried the animal back to the den. Muroki and Delano would be delighted to get to eat something, she was sure of it. In fact, just thinking about it caused her to grin. Muroki was always complaining about needing to learn to take care of her, but here she was, providing him with food. Not that she would have let him hunt with his shoulder like that anyways.

---

Delano just about choked when he heard Muroki's offer. His own brother was offering to help Sanders? "Muroki..." His head was swimming, and he was feeling like has starting to lose sense of what was real or not. Why was Muroki doing this? Delano was just barely able to accept Muroki and the others wanting to help Hatari. But this?

Sanders hesitated. He doubted that Muroki could actually do anything by now, although it was very odd in that... Muroki was actually being sincere. He didn't need the fool's help anyways. He glared at Delano's brother. "Why would I want help from some pitiful lion who thinks he has the moral high ground? The world is not a fairy tale. Go home while you still can, you pathetic idiot."

Delano broke. He couldn't stand Sanders insulting his family like this anymore. "Why you-!" Before he knew what he was doing, he was already lunging at Sanders, wanting to wipe the smug look right off the lion's face.

It was always Sander's intention to get Delano to attack him. He knew that the king and queen needed him whole for the trial, so if he got Delano to hurt him, he would at least go down and take Delano with him, who would be punished for hurting a valuable prisoner. He always knew that there was no saving him anymore, which is why Muroki's offer to help was even more silly. The naive fool actually thought that he could help!

However, Sanders still had a natural instinct to avoid getting hurt, so when Delano lunged at him, he easily avoided the lions claws, instead swiping his own claws hard at Delano's side, sending the enraged lion screaming in pain as he crashed into a wall.

The guards outside were already paying attention just in case, so the moment they saw the fight brake out, they rushed in and tackling everyone inside, not caring who was who.

[TheWhistlerify]

Did Muroki truly believe that Sanders deserved help from anyone? No. The former leader of the underworld wasn't even showing the slightest sign of remorse for his actions. Did Muroki think there was anything he could do to actually help? No. Did he really want to help? In all honesty, he didn't. But Sanders's death would just continue a pointless cycle, and it definitely wouldn't bring his and Delano's parents back from the dead.

So when Sanders rudely dismissed his offer, Muroki was simply about to take Delano and leave, seeing how the conversation wasn't doing his brother any good at all. The thing Muroki had been concerned about the most about entering that cave was that Sanders could potentially kill him or his brother quickly enough before the guards outside could react, but before he had any chance to even panic at what was happening, the guards rushed inside and tackled all three of them to the ground, pinning them.

[DGFone]

The guards made sure that everyone were secured before daring to relax even a little. The main guard in charge saw that no one was able to escape. "Get them out of here," he ordered, "inform the king and queen. They need to know about this." He watched as Muroki and Delano were carried away before letting the other guards to relax their hold on Sanders and slowly retreat out of the cave. "If you try anything right now," the guard warned, "you'll be begging for death by the time we'll be through with you." Sanders didn't reply, and the guard left to join the others. There would be no more visitors until the trial for Sanders.

As he was carried out by another guard, Delano couldn't help but whimper in pain as his side burned. He wasn't allowed to stop, but as soon as they were taken outside and the guard relaxed his grip, Delano collapsed. He clutched his side, feeling his paw moisten from his blood. "Help..." He felt the guard lift him back up, but he was unable to offer any help in supporting his body. Through the pain, he heard their escorts say something about getting them back to the den, and felt himself being pushed along again. Somehow, he was able to get his legs beneath him and help out with the walking.

[TheWhistlerify]

Muroki was quite worried about what the king and the queen would say once they found out about this whole incident, and hearing the main guard say how they needed to inform the royal couple didn't help. Still, it was quite a relief that, other than clawing Delano's side, Sanders hadn't really hurt either one of them. He didn't pay much attention to his brother's injury, though, what with him being relieved and all, and only became concerned about it when Delano collapsed outside.

The sight of him bleeding like that was unpleasant, and he seriously hoped that these claw marks wouldn't make Delano lose as much blood as he had because of the bite in his shoulder. He wanted to help Delano stand up, but one of the guards beat him to it (even though he didn't seem to be actually supporting his brother). The two were then led back into the royal den, where the guards finally left them alone. "Are you alright?" Muroki finally asked, lying down close to his brother and looking at his bleeding side. He had no idea how serious such an injury was, and hoped that the queen would be able to help no matter its severity.

Spoiler: show

Cya...

[DGFone]

Dropped off at the royal den, Delano just about had no idea what was going on. "I... I don't know," he replied shakily, trying to get a closer look at his side. He didn't feel good, but that was not anything new for the past couple of days. His side burned something fierce whenever he tried to place a paw on it, but at least the bleeding was slowly stopping. He winced as he applied some pressure on the cuts. They didn't feel life threatening, but they also didn't exactly feel like glancing blows either. "It really hurts," he muttered quietly, "I... don't really know what happened. I didn't mean to attack him, honest! I just... just..." He struggled to phrase why he had thought it a good idea to see Sanders in the first place. "I just wanted to find out why I keep having these nightmares!" he finally spat out. "I was hoping that by talknig to him... that it might help. That it might make me less confused, and..." He wanted to tell Muroki that he had hoped that he would get something he could use to fight the nightmares by talking to Sanders, but his voice had failed him. Ashamed, he tried to stand up and walk out of the den, not caring that he was supposed to stay in here.

Just then, Delano froze when the king and queen came in, one of the guards next to them. Just the night before, he had trusted the queen enough to tell her his greatest fears when he told her about his troubles with the nightmares. He lay flat against the ground, afraid of what might happen, and trying to hide his wounded side.

[TheWhistlerify]

Muroki couldn't tell just how Delano thought that talking to Sanders would help put a stop to his nightnares, but he decided to not ask his brother because he knew just how desperate Delano was, which meant that he might not have an answer. He tried to think of something inspiring and reassuring he could say, but at that point the king and the queen entered the den. Hoping that Delano wouldn't get into trouble thanks to the fact that he hadn't hurt Sanders back there, he waited to see what would happen.

The two came over and, just when the king was about to say something, Kato suddenly came running out of an inner part of the den, making unnatural exclamations about how he was supposed to be given a lesson by his father at the moment. Didn't the prince dislike learning all the time? "Really?" asked his father, raising an eyebrow at Kato's enthusiasm. "I don't recall anything being on schedule..."

"Oh, uh... Yeah, it's that one lesson about that one thing... Er, come on!" He then herded his father outside, who followed somewhat reluctantly. The prince sent a wink in the brothers' direction as he left.

"That's my clever boy." said the queen with a chuckle. It was no secret that Delano felt uncomfortable by her mate's presence. "So..." she looked at Delano, speaking calmly. "Let me see."