[PRIVATE: DGFone & Thewhistlerify]

[DGFone]

His mind racing, Delano really wanted to get away from here and... and forget about it all or something. Looking up, up at the sky, he was relieved to see that he could at least use the end of the day as an excuse to leave this time around. Nudging his mate, he motioned with his head in the direction of where they needed to head off to. "Lina, it's time to go home. We need to pick Akili up. Don't want him to start worrying about us..."

Even as he said this, he could tell by the look she was giving him that she saw right through him. Never the less, he got up onto shaky legs and began to walk away, feeling faint from everything that had happened in the latter part of the day.

[TheWhistlerify]

Hatari could very easily see right through Delano's excuse for leaving as well. Although, with what might possibly be true about Sanders not being dead, he couldn't really blame him for being so upset. As Muroki's brother slowly walked away, the former member of the underworld looked at Lina. "There's still a part of me that finds it difficult to believe all of this, even if the new Chief is involved." Even with the head of police, pulling something like that off would be very difficult. "But... Keep an eye on him..." he muttered quietly, his eyes shifting onto Delano for a brief moment. "And tell Muroki about what you saw. Don't forget about what Sanders wanted to do before killing your mate..." With that anything but cheerful reminder, he returned back to his favorite branch as the lioness began to leave as well. He needed some time to think.

[DGFone]

Delano walked away from Hatari's waterhole, too upset to acknowledge Lina when she caught up to him. He even hardly reacted when she walked next to him, although he could feel her eyes on him as he walked. Diverting his gaze towards the ground, he was already preparing himself for whatever stern words she would have for him. He knew that he really wasn't thinking straight, and that she had all right to be upset with him, but he really didn't want to deal with it right now...

[TheWhistlerify]

Truth be told, the last thing on Lina's mind was scolding her mate for his behavior just a few moments earlier. She was more busy thinking about what the two of them had seen. As much as she understood what Hatari had said and also believed that it would have been very difficult to let Sanders live without anybody knowing, nothing could make her unsee anything. She really could care less about Delano's way of treating the former member of the underworld at the moment.

What she was more worried about was the fact that, if the former leader of the underworld really was alive, her mate and cub might be in serious danger. Well, they'd seen Sanders outside the border (if that was him), but how would that stop him from causing them any harm? Entering the kingdom's territory would be very risky for him, but who was to ensure that he wouldn't send someone to attack them in his place like he had at the trial? Although, his twisted mind would probably like for him to be there to see such an act be carried out, but the lioness wasn't going to rely on the fact that he couldn't come near them without taking a huge risk as a safety insurance.

Muroki had become Sanders's main target the last time before Delano himself simply because the two of them were brothers. He himself hasn't really interfered with the lion's plans. This put Akili in an exactly similar if not even worse position, both because he was a helpless little cub and also because, being Delano's son, he might be given a higher priority on Sanders's payback list... The thought sent a chill up his mother's spine. She sighed, looking at her mate. "Are you okay?" She didn't have anything to say, really. They were going to have to warn her sister and brother-in-law, and the king too... But how was she going to look at Umeme and Muroki and say something so terrible to them, to take their happiness and belief that the hardships were far behind them and shatter everything to pieces?

[DGFone]

Lost in thought, Delano was caught unaware by Lina's question. "What do you think?" he snapped at her, and immediately regretted what he said. "Lina... I- I'm sorry..." He nuzzled his mate to try and show her that he wasn't mad at her. "I'm just... it's too much for me right now," he admitted, his voice quivering, "to think that he would still be alive... I always was afraid of it, but I never thought..." he shook his head, "I never thought that it might ever be the case..."

Delano fell silent, too worn out to day anything else. They still needed to pick Akili up and warn Muroki as well. But for what? So that they can live in fear for who knows how long? To force them to look over their shoulder all the time on the chance that someone might go after them?

It would have been much better, Delano thought, if Sanders would have simply been gotten rid off the first time around.

[TheWhistlerify]

Not thinking much of Delano's very brief outburst, Lina softly returned her the gesture as he nuzzled her apologetically. She too was too worried about what they'd seen in order to be distracted by anything else, really. "I know..." she said, letting out a sigh. The two of them were pretty much on the exact same page. Neither one of them has ever thought that Sanders could possibly still be alive somewhere, and as much as they wanted to they couldn't get themselves to think that perhaps they were mistaken.

[DGFone]

Trying to calm down, Delano didn't say anything else, concentrating on simply walking back towards the den of Lina's parents where they had left Akili. Lina didn't say anything else as well as they walked, making it very quiet and rather tense.

Nearing the den, Delano hesitated, feeling nervous. "Lina, I uhh... can you go and tell Muroki and Umeme? I... I don't think I'll be able to handle it..." He didn't want to tell her that he wan't feeling well enough to want to make the walk over to their den and then all the way back. He really needed to get back to their own den and try to clear his mind with some rest. "I'll take Akili back home, okay?"

The other problem was that he really didn't want to be the one to have to tell Muroki and Umeme. While he didn't want to force that onto Lina, he just didn't feel capable enough to trust even himself to do so.

[TheWhistlerify]

Lina honestly wouldn't mind too much, even if she did prefer the idea of both of them going over and warning Umeme and Muroki about the old threat that just might still be around. She was about to suggest they postponed the announcement until morning when her mate would have rested so that they could go together. But her brother in law and sister needed to know as soon as possible, so it couldn't be helped... "Okay..." she said, giving him a soft nuzzle. "I'll see you back in the den..." Licking the male's muzzle once, she quietly changed course.

[DGFone]

Forcing to look like nothing was wrong, Delano left Lina and approached Akili and his parents-in-law. "Akili? Come on, it's time to home!" While he did need to collect his son, he did not want to deal with his in laws at the moment. Just the idea of walking Akili back home was feeling like a hard enough task for him right now, so to have to do something as hard as to deal with them... Not to mention that they would want to know why Lina is not with him, and that's assuming that he would be able to fake everything being all right to them...

Swallowing his fear down, prepared himself for the inevitable questioning.

[TheWhistlerify]

Because it was already almost past sunset, Moto and Fadhili were already expecting their daughter and son-in-law to arrive and pick up Akili. So, upon seeing only Delano approach them, they naturally became confused. Lina's mother went ahead and asked what both she and her mate were wondering, but she didn't seem to think much of Delano's answer. Surely there was no reason for them to question Lina going over to see her sister.

Seeing how late it was, Akili was already slumbering peacefully between his grandfather's paws. "Akili, wake up, your father's here.'" said his grandmother with a chuckle as she gently nudged the little cub awake with her nose. As he then sleepily walked over to his father and nuzzled one of his legs, she looked at the lion with a smile. "He was a complete angel. No trouble at all."

•●●•

Lina was feeling more and more uncertain the closer she got to Umeme and Muroki's den, which was already in sight. She had absolutely no idea how to break the bad news to them. There was no noise of cubs running about inside so she could only assume that Ubawa and Marini were already asleep, which was good in this case. Upon going inside, she saw that her sister and brother-in-law were making themselves rather comfortable (to as much an extent as they allowed themselves with their two cubs around, that is). Well, some things just never changed.

The idea of ruining their moment made her even more uncomfortable, but that didn't stop the two from noticing that she was there.