Nen Feaster; Part 2: The Cat's Journey

Chapter 21: Together

Nef suddenly jolted up in bed, gasping as she came too. She was drenched in sweat, her heart racing. She looked around at her surroundings. She was on a simple bed, one she once thought was too small. She looked over at a nearby desk. There were several pencils that had been worn down to almost nothing; a familiar sign of a close friend. Nef rose her hand up to her face to rub her eyes, finding that she was back down to four fingers. She uncovered and looked at her legs, seeing she was back to having her exoskeleton instead of human skin. "I'm back in my old body." She mumbled. She got out of bed and looked at her surroundings closer. This was Eli's room. "It's... Eli's birthday..." She said. She then realized what that meant. "It's Eli's birthday!" She shouted. She got her shoes on then rushed out of Eli's room and into the palace.

Everything was in order, and nothing was broken or destroyed. Everything was okay, everyone was okay. In fact, she saw Cheetu. "Cheetu!" She shouted joyously.

"Ah! Don't hurt me!" Cheetu pleaded. Nef rushed over to him and grabbed him in a tight hug.

"Cheetu! It's so good to see you again!" She said.

"Uh... okay?" Cheetu said, completely confused by Nef's sudden change to an affectionate personality. Nef looked down and saw his legs, which were perfectly okay.

"Your legs are okay!" Nef shouted happily.

"Uh, yeah, they are." Cheetu said, still confused. Youpi suddenly came up, trying to figure out what was happening.

"Youpi! You're okay too!" Nef shouted.

"Uh... yeah, why wouldn't I be?" Youpi asked.

"Wait... Eli! Where's Eli!?" Nef asked as she shook Cheetu.

"In the courtyard, drawing." Cheetu said. She let go of Cheetu and rushed toward the courtyard. "What just happened?" Cheetu asked Youpi, who just shrugged his shoulders in response.

Nef ran to the courtyard as fast as she could. She quickly stepped out and saw him. She saw Eli sitting at the top of the steps, quietly drawing everything he saw. He felt something behind him and turned around. "Oh, hey Pitou, you're finally awake. I'm surprised you slept this late." Eli said. Nef just stood there, motionless. Eli turned back to his journal. Nef reached, but didn't dare touch him. In the back of her mind, she was afraid that this was a dream, that this was a hallucination of some kind. She was so happy that tears started trailing down her face. "You know, I was thinking of cooking something special for everyone tonight. I found a recipe for something called lasagna. It looked pretty good, so I—" He turned and saw Nef. When he saw the tears trailing down her face, he got worried. He shot straight up and said, "Whoa, Pitou! Are you okay!? Why are you crying!? You're not hurt, are you!?" Seeing how genuinely worried he was, Nef knew that it HAD to be him. She rushed over to him and hugged him, lifting him off of the ground. "I missed you!" She shouted as she started crying more.

Eli was confused. "Missed me? What are you talking about, I was—" He stopped once he realized what she meant. "I... I died, didn't I?" Eli asked. Nef set him down and looked him in the eyes. She nodded, not able to say it. "And... you used Myriad to come back, right?" Eli asked.

"Yes..." Nef said as she dried her tears.

"Okay... you need to tell me and everyone else what happened." Eli said.

"Well, I went to your island, met Misha and killed the source of the Shades then I went to the war zone, or... the Deadlands on your island and exorcized the nen there, then I met this author named Mr. Reid and learned that he was hiding a colony of Chimera Ants, and then he helped me hunt down a nen user that could summon a star and I took his nen, but then we were attacked by an assassin and Misha died, and I went berserk and killed the assassin, and then me and Cheetu moved on, but he got caught in an explosion and lost his leg, and I... I-I, and I..." Nef began to break down into tears again.