Eli lay in a sub-conscious state, the one just before awakening. She took a full breath of air, and sighed slowly. She didn't want to get up. Not to the beatings, not to the hate, not to this life.

Then, it all came crashing back. Her breath caught in her aching throat as she vividly recalled the details of what had happened not twenty four hours ago. Then, in a sudden rush of panic, she realized she wasn't alone.

Piccolo cracked one eye open and began to watch Eli as she slept. Somehow during the night, she'd moved closer to him. Now her head rested comfortably against his right leg.Her eyes had been darting around under her eyelids for hours, they'd only just recently stopped. He watched as he thought she was about to come too.Piccolo watched as Eli went from being somewhat relaxed, to her entire body tensing in a panic.

Eli felt an irrepressible tremor glide smoothly down her spine, sending mini shivers into every fiber of her being.

Piccolo sighed inwardly. "I know you're awake." He said simply.
Eli slowly opened one eye too see who was really talking to her. She moved her head to where the cave wall was the only thing in her line of vision. A moan caught in her throat as some of yesterday's pain struck her in several places.

Neither of them really thought about how long it was before Eli sat up. Nor did either of them really judge the amount of time it took for one of them to speak.
Piccolo was the first to speak."Why you?" he asked.
Eli's jaw clenched, her nose crinkling, and her mouth forming a scowl. "I deserved it." She stated sorrowfully and matter-of-factually. Piccolo shook his head slightly, like he was about to tell her how wrong she was. Eli snapped herself towards him.
"YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND!" She yelled. Her eyes conveyed a sadness and hurt that Piccolo had rarely seen. "I've done...awful...horrible things, I deserved to be punished for them!"
"How would Brutilia know what in the hell you've done in your life?" Piccolo asked.
"Kira watched...from hell..." Eli began, lowering her head in shame. "She saw...all those things I've ever done..." Piccolo gripped her shoulders, attempting to pick her up to face him; but she held herself firm. "You could not've done anything that bad to warrant this kind of abuse." Piccolo stated quietly.

Silence. For the next few minutes Eli knelt on the ground on all fours, Piccolo's hands placed firmly on her shoulders.

"I didn't mean to kill that kid." Eli said quietly
"What?" Piccolo asked, slightly shocked she would reveal this to him.

"Kokori told me this guy was going to kick us out of our apartment...I would believe anything he said, and I did anything he asked of me. Kokori told me I had to kill him, or we'd be out on the street. I...I went over to his apartment and just let loose. I strangled him with my bare hands. I didn't realize anyone else was there until one of his...roommates...or something tried to pull me off him. I went into this daze, I didn't know what I was doing, until I was done with it all. Somewhere...in the fight, this little brat...he only looked, like eight years old, had come up behind me. I...I...I completely ripped him apart. His guts were all over the floor. His blood...was...was all over me!"

Eli's hands clenched into white-knuckled fists on the ground. Her breath hitched hysterically.
Piccolo's hand slowly reached out, his hand coming to rest on her back. "Eli..."

"I DIDN'T MEAN TO DO IT!" She yelled, jumping up to meet eye-to-eye with Piccolo, her hands gripping his shoulder pads. "He just snuck up on me! I didn't know what I was doing at the time! I didn't even know the kid was in the room!" She collapsed her head onto his chest, mumbling "I'm sorry" over and over again.

Piccolo's arms wrapped around her form. She couldn't take anymore and began to openly sob into the front of his shoulder pads. Piccolo slowly rubbed her back, telling her over and over that it was going to be alright. Her fists gripped his shoulder pad until Piccolo heard fabric rip.
"It can't be all right." Eli sobbed. "I've done...too many things...too many horrible things."
Piccolo dug his hands into her shoulders, pulling her face away from his chest. "Listen to me!" he growled angrily. Eli's tear-stained face looked up to meet his fearfully.
"Kira should not have implemented that training technique to someone so young. It was a risk to teach you to go into a killing daze, and you couldn't help it. Kokori should not have asked you to take care of his dirty business, it was ridiculous for anyone to expect a young child to kill like an adult, or like some kind of attack mongrel. You did only what you were told! It wasn't your fault!"

Eli's eyes averted to the ground as she processed what Piccolo said.

Meanwhile, Siarra lay in her bed. All night she'd stared at the ceiling. Somehow, she felt numb. Like what she'd seen had really just shocked her so much, it was like she wasn't sure she could ever be this shocked again.

But, from today, Siarra had learned a sick, yet important lesson. Parents really didn't have to love their children.
" Kira had been Eli's mother, her life-giver. Yet, Kira had laughed when Brutilia had...had..."
Siarra couldn't complete the thought. She had kneeled over the toilet enough times that night to know not to think about it.

Siarra also felt some form of new found respect for her father. He didn't have to love her. He could've left her in some mountainous area to die of exposure or something like that. But he didn't. That's what made him a father in her eyes; he didn't have to, but did.

Siarra felt goosebumps crawl all over her skin.
She pulled her blankets closer.

"How do you know?" She asked quietly.
"How do I know what?" Piccolo asked back.

Eli looked at him with vehemence in her eyes.
"How do you know it wasn't my fault? My very existence is nothing more than trouble." she stated coldly.
"Don't look at me like you don't know what I'm talking about; with Frieza as a sire and Kira as my dam, is it any wonder I'm so hateful...so terrible? Those things I've done...how can you be sure I'm not just pure evil?"

Piccolo knew that wasn't Eli talking. He knew instictively that those words had been drilled into her mind over and over again to break her down. He made direct eye contact with her as he spoke.
"Eli, if evil is in the blood Son, Vegeta, Gohan, Trunks, Goten, and I would've conquered this place long before you even showed up. I'm a Demon Clansman, and everyone else has saiyan blood, in theory making us all dangerous and evil. We are not because we made the choice to use our power's for the good of this earth. Granted your decision making process has been skewed, it is never too late to change what you are."

Eli stared up at him like she couldn't understand Piccolo. He didn't blame her, he wouldn't understand it either if he had been in her shoes.

"Besides..." Piccolo continued "I know you're not evil."
That got Eli's attention.
"How can you know?!" She shouted, simultaneously accusing him of lying, and desperately seeking his answer.
"Simple..." Piccolo began, looking into her eyes, "I've seen what you've done."

Eli wanted to protest. "What do you...!"
Piccolo silenced her with a look.
"I've seen you rush in front of a ki beam to save Siarra, I've seen you put yourself directly in harm's way to protect Chill, and today I saw you willing to die to save Trunks."
Eli looked up at him wide-eyed.
"Ifyou were evil: you would've let Siarra die, you would've let Chill face Brutilia on his own, or you wouldn't have revived him at all, and if you were evil you would've played dead and let Trunks die today."

"S...so I'm not...terrible?" Eli asked, a relieved smile tugging at her lips.

"What's your plan from here?" Piccolo asked.
Eli's smile disappeared, revealing the anger she still held for the situation.
"I'm gonna grab Chill, get my apartment back, and train until I can make Brutilia grovel at my feet." She replied, putting an extra coldness into the last part of it.
"Hmph. So you've got it all planned out." Piccolo replied coolly.
Eli turned her head until she looked directly at him. "What did you want me to say? That I'd come live with you, Siarra, Dende, and Popo at the Lookout with my little brother..." She trailed off.
Piccolo returned her gaze with a smirk. "Your ESP hasn't suffered I see."
Eli shook her head and laughed a little under her breath.
"I'm serious." Piccolo said.
Eli stopped her silent musings and looked at him seriously. "Alright. There's just-one thing," Eli asked.
Piccolo's eyes urged her on.
"All Chill's stuff and mine is in Brutilia's basement."

Piccolo's eyes remained focused on hers, did Eli see pity in them?

"You haven't used your ki radar in a while have you?" Piccolo asked solemnly.
Eli shook her head 'no'.
Eli stretched her mind out until she couldn't go any farther. "They're nowhere." She said.
Piccolo sighed. "I lost their signals earlier."
Eli stood up and began to walk out of the cave. "See you at the Lookout." She said without turning.

Eli leapt out of the cave entrance and flew toward Goku's house. Piccolo smirked in pride. For whom he did not know.