Neither had realised it had begun to rain.

Piccolo's eyes remained closed for several minutes after he pulled out of Eli's mind. In all his years as a warrior he had seen some gruesome things, hell he'd been responsible for at least half of them. But, He'd never tortured anyone like this, when he had killed it had been a relatively quick death.

He opened his eyes andstared athis handon Eli's head. She still wasn't looking at him. Her head was down and her eyes were shut.Piccolo slowly slid his hand down Eli's face until his large, green hand held her chin in his hand. Gently he lifted Eli's head until he made eye contact, her eyes looked so different.
All the previous times he'd seen those eyes they'd been filled with a variety of things. Hate,pride, contempt, intelligence, and even a certain quality totally unique to her. One that had no name; one that dared people to fight her.
Now, now they held adullness. Like she'd shut down part of herself to keep from dying altogether. They alsoheld a surpressed fear; a fearof being betrayed,a fear of being tortured, a fear of being hurt again.

Piccolo's thumb gently swept over her cheek, wiping the moisture from her light skin. He wished more than anything at that moment he'd paid more attention to her when she'd moved in with Kira. He removed his hand and returned it to it's usual place at his side. He walked passed her.

Eli's stomach turned over in self-revulsion.
"I still couldn't believe you didn't fight back!" A voiceshouted.
Eli knew the voice. She'd known it all her life, and over the past two years she'd becomequite familiar with the owner. She called it herDark Self. Anti-Eli. Often she'd picturedTheDarkSelf, in it's long, hooded, blackcape leaning against the nearest tree or wall. It usually spewed insults and hate at Eli.
"Oh, shut up!" Eli said mentally.
"You think I'm disgusted?" Dark Self went on, ignoring her command to quiet down.
"Why do you think Piccolo was silent when he came back from your mind, huh?You think he feels sorry for you? Yeah right! I can see it all over his green mug. He's sickened!" DarkSelf continued, laughing.
"I told you to shut the fuck up!" Eli commanded mentally.
Dark Self continued to laugh, choking out insults along the way.
Eli's face tightened to a grimace at the ground, her fists clenched desperately. She had totally missed that Piccolo had said something to her. She was brought back to reality when Piccolo's raised voicepenetrated Dark Self's laughter. She cautiously looked out of the cornorof her eye at him.

He was a few feet off the ground, his arms crossed over his chest. "Come on." He commanded gruffly. Eli could tell he was trying tokeepirritation out of hisvoice.
She hovered to his level in the air, and without another word between the two, they took off.

Piccolo didn't want to bring Eli straight to The Lookout, he wanted to help her in private right now. It wasn't that he thought that Siarra would be upset by this kind of thing; it was his fear of becoming upset.A few measly hours ago he'd seen a man, who'd sworn he'd taken Eli under his wing as her father, beat her to within an inch of death. Piccolo was more afraid that he'd see Siarra as Eli.
All through his viewing of Eli's mind, his mind had been replacing Eli's image with Siarra's. That's what made him ill, he'd actually seen himself torturing Siarra the way Brutilia had tortured Eli.
Even when he had heard Siarra surpress her scream when Brutilia had slit Eli's throat, his mind asked him 'Would she make that sound if you slit her throat?'.At that specific moment he'd wanted to bash in his ownbrain because it had conjured such a dispicable thought.

Piccolo came out of his thoughts abruptly when he noticed Eli's ki. It was so weak, yet it pulsated with effort to keep her in the air.
Piccolo stopedand faced Eli. It didn't take a whole lot to stop Eli's flight. Piccolo had no idea she was this spent; sweat and rainglazed her face, she was trying desperately to conceal her panting, and Piccolo could clearly hear her heartbeat.

The rain continued to pour.

"Do you want me to carry you?" Piccolo asked coolly.
Eli looked up in a mixture of shock and insult.
"No." She replied calmly, but angrily.
Piccolo sighed inwardly. He should've known Eli's pride wouldn't allow such help. He decided to rephrase the question.
"Do you need me to carry you?" He asked.
Eli took a deep breath. "I will shortly." She sighed, and passed out.
Piccolo reached and just barely caught her emaciated body in his arms. From the way he carried her he could feel every possible bone jut forth from the skin, in a gruesome display of Brutilia's power.

The rain continued to pour just as hard and as fiercely.

Piccolo landed in his old cave entranceafter an hour of flight. Eli was still unconcious, but Piccolo decided not to betoo concerned since he couldhear her heartbeat and breathing. He would worry when hecouldn't hear one or both of those.
He set herdown gently in the cave and crossed the middle tosit on the opposite side. It had been a particularly humid and muggy day, so a fire wasn't necessary in the still warm cave.
Piccolo focused his hearing towards Eli's form, hoping not dectect any distress. He soon found he wouldn't get his wish. He began to hear her mutter saiyan in her sleep.
He had no idea what she was saying, but she sounded like she was in anguish. Piccolo moved from his spot across the cave from her, to next to her. Swallowing his pride, he began to speak to her.
"Eli, Brutilia's not here." He said soothingly, placing his hand on hers. "It's over, you lived. You won."

Eli's heart rate began to decrease until it reached normal again. Her breathing evened out.But Piccolo's rage didn't end. It enraged him to no end to see someone so strong and in-control, being reduced to the point where sleep offered no relief. He swore that if he and Brutilia, or any member of Eli's so-called 'family', met up; then he was going to tear them apart for this. No one, no matter how bad they acted at some points, deserved this.
"You alwayrs said you'd have our backs in a fight," he thouhght "Now I've got yours. Rest easy, kid."

The rain ceased.