Nen Feaster; Part 2: The Cat's Journey

Chapter 23: Clarity

Both Gon and Eli woke up in a strange place. The world was black and white with shades of gray in between. They were on top of the mountain on Eli's island, looking down at his village. Eli stood up and looked down on it all, awe struck. Gon came up next to him and looked down as well. "You calm?" Eli asked.

"I... yeah." Gon said, a little ashamed.

"Good." Eli said as he looked back to his village.

"Is this... your home?" Gon asked.

"Yes." Eli said.

"It's nice."

"It is." Eli looked out at the old place, the home that he grew up in. "For a while it was the only place I knew. Then, one day, I went out to save my people from their curse. I went to a distant land and met a vicious cat. She was rude and mean to me at first, but I knew there was good in her somewhere. So, I kept talking to her, I bugged her, annoyed her, and tried to be friendly with her. I broke through one day, miraculously. It didn't stop there though. It started getting to a point where she cared about me just as much as she cared about her King." Eli said. Gon stayed silent and just listened. "Do you know what she did in the other timeline? The very first thing she did after your attack?" Eli asked.

"What?" Gon asked.

"She came here... and freed my people from their curse. They all were free to be who they were and to become nen users. They were free... but not anymore. It has to be done again because I died." Eli said as he looked over to Gon. Gon looked away in shame. "You were given a second chance Gon... and you threw that away to kill me again, and Nef too." Eli said.

"I'm sorry..." Gon said in shame.

"Why do you hate Nef so much? Why do you want her dead so badly?"

"Pitou... Nef killed my friend Kite... I feel responsible." Gon said.

"What do you mean?"

"Kite knew Nef was coming. Instead of defending himself, he got us out of the way of the attack, and lost his arm in an instant."

"I see..."

"What will you do now?" Gon asked.

"Me? I'm going to save my people of course."

"I should've guessed." Gon said.

"I would ask what you'd do, but... I know what that devotion is going to do to you." Eli said.

"Yeah..." Gon said. Eli let out a sigh as he started thinking. "What will Nef do?" Gon asked.

"I don't know." Eli said.

"You said that she cared about you just as much as she cared about the King."

"Yeah... which means she's split."

"She'll make a decision soon."

"Yeah... she's nothing if not decisive." Eli said with a smile.

"I'm sorry about all of the trouble I've caused you." Gon said with a remorseful tone.

"Don't worry about it. I'm sorry about slinging all of those insults at you. I was just making sure you focused on me and not Nef or the others."

"You were right to do that. I would have killed them if I had the chance."

"I know." Eli said.

"I really do have to apologize though." Gon said.

"Why?" Eli asked, sensing there was another reason behind Gon's shame.