"I would understand if you hated me forever, Melody." Chu-e is quick to let her know. Melody Miro was entitled to her own feelings about him. He hadn't come here to beg and grovel at her feet for what he had done in the past. He was here to beg and grovel for other things.

At the question, Chu-e's face softens just a bit.

"I'm glad Eris can rely on you." Unlike some people, Chu-e did trust that Melody had Eris Halla' best interests at heart.

But that is all he says for a few long moments. The quiet hangs, but from the way his gaze is distant he isn't done talking.

But how much to tell? How much is safe?

"... There will be a big summit for Rocket soon." The meeting in Sootopolis was upcoming. "I don't know what it's going to be about. But I have my guesses."

His distant gaze snaps back to Melody suddenly. Chu-e's face is blank and grim, eyes icy as he seems to stare through the starlet.

"When I was Underboss, I vowed to never let another Kanto happen again. But I'm not in power anymore; I'm just a sickly man who shouldn't be alive."

His hand is lifted. A secret shown to Melody. An understanding to keep it quiet. Crystals shimmer and flex on his fingertips before sinking back into flesh.

"I don't want to be a weapon in another war, Melody. If they ask that of me, I'm leaving Rocket. And I'll be damned if I'm leaving Eris behind."

Cobalion is ready to beat his ass right into the floor. Chu-e doesn't flinch, for those cool badass points, but he doesn't move.
He's sure to stay still and not make any sudden movements.

"Rocket didn't do this to me." While it happened in the Rocket base it technically wasn't Rocket's fault. "I don't... think so?" To be honest, he wasn't really sure. "It's more like a very demanding tapeworm; I don't have any control over it." The opposite, actually.

"In a fucked up way I'm it's mom. It used me to grow big and strong and kill things. Then when it was done with me it threw me down and left." He couldn't feel it's presence in his mind like before. It was different now.

Ah, but he was getting tired. Even just standing here was a lot.

Groaning, Chu-e worked to lower himself to the floor and sit. He could get up later.

Melody Miro was right.

Everyone he had spoken with, and people who reported about her, always made her out like a dumb bimbo airhead. Sighing, he leaned back on his hands. God, he was tired.

"I've been used since I was a kid." He had told her, long ago now, about his dark history. What pushed him into Rocket's arms to start with.

"It's not... easy to admit you're wrong about this kind of stuff, you know? I'm a murderer, Melody. I'm a war criminal.
There are people who want me to die and they deserve to feel that way. I had to lie to myself for a long, long time just to sleep at night." He groans. This had been a fun visit at first. He'd gotten Melody to see his peepee. Now it was getting all serious.

Ugh.

Disgusting.

"I think I'm just tired. I just want to do what I can for Eris Halla."

Ran by the League?

"A past ran by the League got me molested and made an outcast. I'll pass." Even if Chu-e planned on playing nicely with the League, he wasn't going to pull any punches with them. They didn't get his loyalty by being good enough.

"I want better for her. Better for myself. Better for you, too, Melody. I just don't think the League can do that on it's own right now." It was why he, and so many others, were so blinded by Rocket. Rocket was the League's fault. Rocket was all the ugly parts the League tried to sweep under the rug, screaming at them. If the League could fix itself, Rocket would die.

He's quiet for a moment.

"... I'm glad she has you on her side. Even if you don't like me, I know she's in good hands." The anger that Melody Miro expects doesn't come. Chu-e just looks pensive and distant, following her earlier gaze into the damage done from her battle.