Chapter 9: Honor
Eli was in the courtyard where the massive trees were, a week after his interaction with Pitou. He was drawing pictures in his journal. He was trying to draw the courtyard with all of the trees. He wasn't great at it, but he still tried. Before long, he heard someone coming up behind him. He turned around to see them. "Youpi? What are you doing here?" Eli asked. "We think we might have come up with a method to separate Shroud." Youpi said. "Really? You have?" "Yes. We are going to a village where a powerful nen exorcist lives." Something about that seemed a little suspicious to Eli. He still went along with it though. "Okay… wait, we? As in you and me?" "That's right. The King asked that I come in order to protect you." Youpi said. "Well… where is this nen exorcist?" "A village not too far from here. We'll ride there in a truck." "Okay… lead the way."
They both went into a tunnel system underneath the palace. Eli was taken to a truck and was put in the back with Youpi. The truck was being driven by one of Pitou's puppets; a soldier, with no life behind the eyes. "Who is this nen exorcist?" Eli asked. "Huh?" Youpi asked. "The exorcist, who are they?" Eli asked again. "O-oh. It's a human that we've located." "Oh? How did you find them?" "Oh, Neferpitou felt a strong nen presence and we did some investigating and found out there was a nen exorcist." Eli knew that Neferpitou's en range was two kilometers. "Where is this village? How long will we be travelling?" Eli asked. "Oh, uh… it should take us an hour to get there." Eli doubted there even was a destination at all. He wasn't sure what Youpi was trying to pull. He assumed Youpi wasn't the master mind behind whatever was going on. "No offense to him, but he's not smart enough for that. It has to be one of the others." Eli thought. "What's the exorcist's name?" Eli asked. "Huh? Oh, uh… Hinata." Youpi said. "Hinata?" Eli replied slowly. "Yeah. That's what I heard their name was." Eli could tell that he was getting nervous. He was a terrible actor, and he was an even worse liar. Especially with the fact that he always said, "oh," when he was lying. "How exactly did Nef find this exorcist?" "Oh, with their en." "When did you discover this village?" "Oh, about a month ago." "A month?" Eli asked. "Y-yeah." Youpi said, his nerves beginning to boil over.
"When did Nef leave?" Eli asked. "What? What are you talking about?" Youpi asked. "Nef's en only stretches for a maximum of two kilometers. That's not far enough to find this village if it's an hour away, so Nef would have had to have gone out to find it." "Oh, yeah. The King sent them out to do some scouting." "Why not send some of her puppets?" "Well… because the King wanted to keep them for soldiers, and they couldn't detect nen as well as Pitou could anyways." Youpi said with a nervous smile. Eli stared Youpi down for a moment, and he could see small beads of sweat forming. Youpi had barely managed to stumble himself into a useful alibi, so Eli felt like he couldn't outright accuse him of anything yet. Eli silently opened up his journal and began writing.
"What's that?" Youpi asked. "My journal." Eli said. "Journal?" Youpi asked. "Yeah… wait, you don't know what a journal is?" "No, I don't." Eli thought that Youpi must have been using this as a way to avoid the previous subject. "Well, it's a blank book that you use to write down your thoughts and events of the day and what not." "What are you writing now?" "I'm trying to finish a drawing from memory." "A drawing? Of what?" "The courtyard with those trees in it." Eli said. He showed Youpi the drawing. He had drawn the courtyard itself, and he had drawn most of the trees. "Hm…" Youpi said. He seemed interested in Eli's drawings.
"Have you drawn anything else?" Youpi asked. "A few things. I tried to draw you and the other two elites." Eli said. He flipped through his journal until he got to the page with Youpi and the other two elites on it. Eli drew the three elites from memory, but there were still several details in it that made it an exceptional work for an amateur. Though, he did have to reset a few times, as Shroud would knock his hand while he was drawing. "Hm… I like it." Youpi said. "Yeah? You think it's good?" Eli asked. "I guess. I don't know much about art, but… I can tell it's us." "Um… thanks?" Eli wasn't sure if that was a compliment or not. "Uh, you should sit down. There's a bumpy road coming." Youpi said. "Okay." Eli said as he sat back down. There were no buckles, as they were sitting in a back cabin that just had benches on the sides.
Before too much longer after that, Shroud started getting agitated. "Hey, chill out! What's gotten into you?" Eli asked. Youpi got a look of worry on his face. "Don't worry, Youpi, he won't do anything while we're in a moving car." Before Youpi could say anything, the cabin of the truck suddenly tipped over violently. It had been hit by something. Though, what really caught Eli off guard was Youpi's reaction. He immediately dove toward Eli and covered him, using his body to shield the boy. The cabin went tumbling for quite a while before it finally came to a stop. Youpi, being the behemoth that he was, was unharmed. Eli wasn't as lucky though. His leg got hurt, possibly broken.
"Son of a bitch!" Eli shouted. The pain he felt was terrible. It was definitely broken. "You alright kid?" Youpi asked. He was being unusually courteous. "No! I think my leg is broken." "Alright. Stay here. I'll see what attacked us." "I don't have much of a choice." Eli said. Youpi broke open the back of the cabin and came out. Eli started hearing gun shots and the sound of Youpi laughing. He was in a fight, and having fun too. After a few moments, the gunshots ceased and all went quiet. Youpi went back to the cabin and grabbed Eli. Lifting the small boy up was no issue for him. Youpi placed him outside and leaned him against a tree. "You alright?" Youpi asked, though Eli felt he was asking just because he had to. "More or less." Eli said. "Can it be more?" "Why? What's wrong?" "If we got attacked, then there's a chance they're going after the nen exorcist." Eli had to fight the urge to roll his eyes. He wanted to play along so he could get to the bottom of this. "I should be fine until then. Nef can heal me later, right?" Eli asked. "Of course." "Alright, but you'll have to carry me there." "Alright." Youpi grunted.
He grabbed Eli and lifted him up. Eli got a look at the scene. There were several corpses all around. Youpi was merciless in his attack, as the corpses had been torn apart. They were all wearing uniforms, but not like the ones that Pitou's puppets wore. "Who were those guys?" Eli asked, going along with whatever ruse this was. "A resistance that's trying to take over the country. They saw the truck and thought we were the previous dictator's military." Youpi said. "I see…" Eli inspected the surrounding area, as best he could from the position he was in. He saw plenty of bullet casings littering the ground, but he didn't see any signs of any bullets.
Eli was silent while they traveled. They were staying within the forest for cover. Eli tried to figure out just what it was Youpi and the others were up to. "What are they doing, and what are they gaining from this?" He thought to himself. "Uh, Youpi." Eli said suddenly. "What is it?" Youpi asked. "Tell me, how did you not get shot during all of that?" "Oh, I can manipulate my body. See." He then caused an extra pair of arms to sprout out of his back. "That's… something, alright." No more words were exchanged. They silently approached the village where this "exorcist," was living. There were several of the "resistance fighters," around the village. They were all patrolling around the perimeter and burning down buildings inside the village. "That's not good." Youpi said. Eli just blankly stared on. Eli could see something that the elites thought he couldn't. Nen, normally, can only be seen by nen users. There are a few exceptions, here and there. However, Neferpitou's puppets are held up by a strange entity, attaching itself to the puppets using strings. Eli, though faintly, could see the strings. Eli, even though he is not technically a nen user, can see nen through Shroud. Eli let out a sigh then removed himself from Youpi's grip.
"What are you doing?" Youpi asked. Eli grabbed a nearby stick to use as a crutch then moved out into the open. "Eli, wait!" Youpi called, but it was too late. Eli had already gotten out into the open, and the puppets were aiming their weapons at him. Eli knew that the weapons weren't really loaded, at least not with real bullets. He approached the soldier. They fired warning shots into the air, but it didn't deter him. He got right in front of one of the soldiers and stared at him. He could see that this really was one of Pitou's puppets, as they were dead behind the eyes.
There was no life in them, whatsoever. Eli took the gun from the soldier then aimed it at Youpi and held down the trigger. Not a single bullet escaped the chamber. Every shot was a blank. Eli tossed the gun aside angrily, and stared at Youpi with fury in his eyes. "Do you think I'm stupid?" Eli asked. Youpi was dead quiet. He obviously didn't expect Eli to catch on. "Well, based on that look, you obviously thought I was, so here's a different question. Do you think I'm blind?" Eli asked. Youpi was still dead quiet. "I can see Nef's strings! I can see that these are puppets!" Youpi's face would have been red if it wasn't already.
Eli stared down Youpi, trying to see if he would give him an answer, or a response of any kind. Youpi just remained silent, a worried look on his face. "So, you're not going to say anything?" Youpi just turned away. "You know, I thought that a big guy like you would have given a damn about respect; about honor, but this? This is just low! Just what the hell were you trying to accomplish here, huh? Were you trying to make me angry at the people of this place? Were you trying to get me to lift my restrictions and my conditions? Is that what all of this deceitful crap was about?"
He could tell by the look on Youpi's face that he was right. "So that is what this is… this is just pathetic." Youpi was beginning to feel great shame. This tiny little human, who would normally be nothing more than food or a puppet soldier, was causing Youpi to have doubts. Eli was causing Youpi to feel ashamed of himself. "Take me back to the palace." Youpi finally looked back to Eli, but did nothing. "Take me to the palace!" Eli shouted. Youpi went over to Eli and picked him up. He then sprouted wings on his back then began flying back to the palace. Eli was so angry, so enraged that he didn't even bother admiring the view.
Before long, they had made it back to the palace. Youpi let go of Eli so he could stand on his own. Cheetu walked by just then. "Whoa, Eli? What happened?" He asked. "Something incredibly petty." Eli said as he stared down Youpi. "What?" Cheetu asked. "Take me to the King." Eli said to Cheetu. "Are you sure about that? Shouldn't we be looking for Neferpitou?" Cheetu asked. "Take me to the King!" "Okay! Just calm down." Cheetu put Eli's arm over his shoulders and helped him walk. It was slow going, but they made their way to the King's throne. He was there, playing with that same woman again. Pouf was there too, as always. Pouf must have had one of his clones watching the ordeal, as he had a worried look on his face. The King looked up from his game and over to Eli. He could see the look of rage on his face, but there was something more than that… a look of betrayal. "Komugi. Let's finish this game at another time." The King said to the woman. "Oh, okay." She said. She stood up and grabbed her cane. She wandered out of the room, leaving the angry faces behind.
Once the woman was gone, Eli began. "So, just what the hell were you trying, huh?" The King was quiet and still. "You too? You're not going to say anything either?" Again, Eli was given no response. "I could have died, Mr. King!" For a moment, Eli thought he saw the King stir. "Just look at my leg! This was the best-case scenario! Just what the hell were you thinking!?" "Hold on, what's going on here?" Cheetu asked. "I'll tell you later." Eli said. The King was still dead quiet. "Let me make something blatantly clear to you. The Shades aren't just affecting me. This isn't just my future that's at stake here. My people, for generations, have been tormented by these creatures! This isn't some game, this isn't just some way for you to gain power! My people, for thousands of years, have been tortured by the Shades!"
The King kept his stone expression. At this point, Pitou heard the commotion and came to see what happened. "These monsters! These beasts! They torment us every hour of every day of our lives! He trips me to make me fall and hit my face. He squeezes my lungs so I feel like I can't breathe. He constricts my heart so I feel like I'm dying! This is the same torment that all of my people have been feeling for three thousand years!" The King still didn't grant Eli a response. "You don't want to say anything? Fine! Just remember that there's more at stake than your petty little empire." Pouf wasn't happy with his words, and tried to object by saying, "Don't you dare—" "You have done enough!" Eli shouted, with a surprising volume. Everyone went silent. There was a long pause, and an uncomfortable feeling hung in the air. "I would like for Nef to heal my leg." Eli said to the King. "He can't." The King said. "What?" "He is unable to heal you because—" "Sir…" Youpi said, actually interrupting the King. "No more lies, sir… Eli is not an imbecile." The King was quiet and still, eerily so. After a long moment, he looked over to Pitou and nodded.
Pitou went over to Eli. "Lay down and I'll heal you." They said. Cheetu helped Eli over to a wall and sat him down on the ground. Cheetu left, not wanting to feel the tension anymore. Pitou summoned Dr. Blythe and got to work on Eli's leg. "It's just a crack. This will be over quickly." Pitou said. Eli wasn't sure if they were saying that to him, or to the others. Eli looked at Pitou with a saddened expression. Pitou tried not to pay attention to it. "Nef…" Eli said. "Pitou." Pitou said. "Whose idea was it?" Eli asked. Pitou didn't want to answer. "Please, tell me." Eli was upset, understandably so. "It was Pouf's idea." "I see…" Eli said. "What you said before…" Pitou started. "about how Shroud messes with your heart and makes you feel like you're suffocating… was it true?" "Every word." Eli said. Pitou went eerily quiet. In their eyes, Eli could see something foreign. It was something that Eli thought he would never see in their eyes. Eli could see the faintest spark of empathy. After that, Eli could have sworn he saw Dr. Blythe work harder.
"Why did you give up some of your puppets?" Eli asked Pitou. "I felt it was necessary to change your mind." Pitou said. "Change my mind?" Eli asked. "What you accused Youpi of was true." "I see… are you not worried that you'd be short on man-power with your puppets dead?" "I could always make more using Terpsichora." "Terpsichora? Is that your ability's name?" "Yes, it is." Pitou said. "What if you didn't have any more bodies to use?" Eli asked. "I'm strong by myself. Even if I reach my limit, I can use Terpsichora to push past it." "What do you mean?" "I use Terpsichora to go into a sort of… auto pilot. It allows my body to push past its normal limits." "It pushes your limits artificially?" Eli asked. "I guess that's one way to put it." "I don't think you should do that." Eli said. "Why?" Pitou was feeling a little insulted.
"Well, you see, if you push past your limits artificially, then that's the only way you'll be able to do so, but if you trained hard and went past your limits on your own, using your own physical strength, then you wouldn't have to worry about using Terpsichora to push past your limits, because you wouldn't have a limit." Eli said. Pitou hung on his words. They paused and simply looked at Eli, not sure on what to say. Pitou finally snapped out of it and checked Eli's leg. The process was done, and Eli's leg was completely healed. "We… we're done." Pitou said. They stood up and started walking out of the room. "Hey, Nef." Pitou was irritated by the name Eli called them by, but still turned around to see what he wanted. "We just had our first real conversation." Eli said with a smile. Pitou silently left the room.
With his leg healed, Eli decided to return to his room. He lied down in bed and thought about the day. He thought about the pain he felt when he was betrayed by the King and the elites. He was of course disappointed in them for what they'd done, but he remembered how Youpi convinced the King to stop lying to Eli when he tried to prevent Pitou from healing him. Youpi actually stood up to protect Eli. Before Eli could chase the thought, he heard a knock on the door. It was a heavy and loud knock, meaning someone big was at the door.
Eli opened the door and saw Youpi on the other side. "Youpi?" Eli said. "Yeah… look, I thought about what you said earlier and what you said the other day." Youpi said. "Oh?" "Yeah. I've thought about it and I found that… you were right." "You… what?" Eli said, making sure he heard him right. "You are right. I shouldn't have tried to trick you the way that I did. It was… dishonorable, disrespectful. I'm, uh… I'm sorry." "You… you're apologizing to me? A human?" "I know… it's strange, but… while you're here I might as well give you respect. You've been helpful around here, cooking for everyone, enlightening us on a few things, and… you've earned some respect." Youpi said. "Thanks, Youpi." "Uh… yeah. I just thought you should know." He left without another word.
Eli was proud of himself. He managed to break through to one of the elites. He actually managed to change his mind. "Well… that's one." He thought to himself. Youpi was the easiest to change since he mostly just went with what others thought. All Eli needed to do was get him to think for himself. Now came the hard part. "I've made progress with Nef, but Pouf still has a firm hatred for me." Eli thought. It was getting late, and he was tired from the events of the day, so he decided to sleep on it, and get back to his quest tomorrow.