Hyperdimension Neptunia: Age of War
Chapter 1: Dark Portents
A/N: Hey there, readers, and welcome to the sequel of The Rising Darkness! This has been released earlier than I thought I would originally release it, but I suppose that is a good thing. Now, this fanfic will contain blood and gore, drama, suspense, supernatural, adventure and romance – a lot more romance which will contain slightly more lemons than the previous story. There will also be a new OC – thanks a lot TheCarlosInferno for your OC, your character will be featured in a future chapter so hang on until then. Anyway, the first chapter will have some lengthy narrative dialogue concerning what events happened after the ending of The Rising Darkness – oh, and I will not be explaining in detail each and every main character again, you readers would already know what the CPUs, IF, Compa, the Oracles and a few of the main OCs from the previous story look like. Also, this fanfic will be updated around once every one to two weeks, maybe three weeks if I'm working on something else. Regardless, I hope you all have a good day and see – or read I suppose – you all next time.
An ominous thunder storm broke out across the dark sky of Gamindustri, the black clouds that had gathered in the sky had now and fully blocked the sun, it seemed that no sunlight was to come out and shine over the landmass for the rest of the morning and afternoon. Lightning struck across the darkened sky, the eeriness that was flowing around seeped into the hearts of every man, woman and child, mortal and immortal. The mood was far from happy, instead it was a mixed feeling between anger and sadness. This type of feeling had been around over at least a year ever since the Massacre of Haruno Village, and it showed no signs of disappearing any time soon.
It had been one year since the events of Haruno Village, and events that occurred afterwards did not all go well for the goddesses of Gamindustri, nor for their friends. Within days news of the massacre and destruction of Haruno Village had spread like wildfire across Gamindustri, the effects that happened next were expected and severe. Faith quickly dropped into one of their lowest states that have ever been seen or recorded for centuries, faith for each nation was around four to eight percent each which mean that sixteen to twenty percent of faith was in the CPUs, where the rest of that faith was no one knew. Not only was faith waning but confidence in the goddesses of the four nations was at an all-time low, whenever people saw their goddesses walk down the street or even catch a glimpse of them they would normally glare at them, some would openly voice their criticism, others even spat at them. Not even their well known friends, such as IF and Compa, were not safe from the anger that seethed from the average day citizen.
Histoire had never expected this to happen, in fact she was rather unprepared when distaste for the CPUs broke out over the following months, the tome fairy did not know what to do and in the end could do little to do anything. A few months after the incident occurred a website dedicated to badmouthing the goddesses was set up by an anonymous internet user by the name of 'PinkHacker101' and was used by 'Saviour of Children', interestingly PinkHacker101 refused to do anything else with the site while Saviour of Children devoted their time to slandering the CPUs while talking about saving the children from lies of the modern age. Around a month later came pamphlets informing people about what life would be like without CPUs to rule them, the usual slogan that was used from time to time was: 'Freedom from unjust governance! Hail self rule! Down with the so-called divines!'. It was unlike anything anyone had ever seen before, and no one could have predicted it. No one could have imagined what the destructive nature of the last Ancient and the somewhat secretive return of the Dark Lord could have done to the world.
No matter how hard they would try to redeem themselves in the eyes of their citizens, the CPUs proved inadequate in the job of making themselves look better, in some cases it made things only worse. People called the goddesses selfish, others who knew their history well proclaimed that being under the rule of a mad goddess such as the CPU of Chaos – Cyan Heart – was more preferable than being under the rule of their current leaders. All this talk of change made things dangerous, yet nothing else appeared to be happening that actually threatened the CPUs. However, all of these events did mark a change on the goddesses, especially Neptune and Blanc. Both had been close to Brian the Shadow Walker, Blanc for obvious reasons due to her and him being lovers; the other CPUs were just as affected though.
Blanc became cold and distant, especially after celebrating Brian's birthday without him even there due to the unknown location of the young Ancient, not even Rom and Ram could get close to her without feeling enmity and depression from their older sister, and whenever they would see Blanc she was always peeping glances at the photo she and Brian took in Lastation during one of their dates. Neptune was still like her normal-self and did not seem to change at all, yet more and more she remained indoors by herself with her games, forever staring at the TV screen with deep pools of sadness in her eyes; Nepgear appeared to be a bit better than her older sister and helped Histoire more often with her sister's work.
Vert changed little as animosity towards her and her friends grew, although she did start playing less multiplayer and more singleplayer computer games due to the hostility she received from online players who knew her, she also appeared to be a little more saddened than usual as well, especially when news hit her that she was having problems with her military. Noire, on the other hand, had not become sad or felt ill will towards her citizens, instead the raven haired tsundere had become more stubborn and hard-headed; due to the recent animosity felt towards her and the other CPUs Noire had set it upon herself to rebuild her own image in the faces of the people by working harder than ever, but nothing seemed to work.
It had been like that for the last six to eight months, then a year fully passed since Haruno Village was desotryed. Now, in an attempt to garner more popularity and redeem themselves, the goddesses banded together in a remembrance day sort of event that was to take place at the ruins of Haruno Village. As the rain began to fall across the southern portion of Gamindustri groups of people moved along the dirt, muddy track that led from Planeptune City to Haruno Village, all were wearing black suits and dresses. There were many people who were walking at a steady pace, at least around two hundred to three hundred, all of these people had some sort of relation to those who had once lived in Haruno Village. What surprised a few of them was the fact that the CPUs of all four nations were with them, even a few of their friends had made the trip, including Angel and Plutia – both seemed unaffected by the events of the pass year.
It took hours for the large group to reach Haruno Village, and by the time they passed through the dense woodlands of Virtua Forest and successfully combat the muddy track many were almost prepared to head back to their homes, others just wanted to drop to the ground due to exhaustion, but the muddy dirt was persuasive enough to prevent that from happening. Eventually, when they reached Haruno Village all that could be seen were the ruins of a once vibrant settlement. An unnatural feeling spread throughout out the three hundred or so people who had come to attend the first ever memorial for the ruined village, but no one could shake off the feeling that they were not alone, that something else was around and wanted to get out. No one knew, or had forgotten, about the cave system that had been blocked off during the massacre.
The ruins were all eroded and burnt, craters and fissures littered the ground, debris was scattered everywhere, the very ground was uneven. Large metal fences barricaded the whole village perimeter with one gate that stood where the original entrance had once been, various chains with a large padlock were wrapped around it to prevent people from getting in without the key – the key, incidentally, was kept by Histoire and was in her office. Outside the village gate there was a large slap of white concrete with a small, light purple obelisk with a sheet of metal in the centre, the metal sheet read: 'We shall never forget those who gave their lives in the defence of this village, and we never intend to. May the men, women and children who died here be remembered for standing their ground against the Shadow Walker'. Histoire was the one who designed it; her opinion on Brian was far from good, in fact it was nearly the opposite of her original opinion of him a year ago.
As the overly large group of black clothed people gathered around the small obelisk everyone present saw four figures approach the small monument, the rain ran down their hair, onto their skin, their black dresses became soaked and the rain fell to the ground off of them, yet none of them seemed to care about that. All four of them held water-soaked flowers in their hands, saddened looks adorned their faces and their eyes stared at the memorial obelisk. One of the four womanly figures stepped forward and placed the flowers in front of the memorial stone, the others soon followed. Then came the speech; the first one to place the flowers down flicked her purple hair back behind her and straightened her dress, her blue eyes with power symbol pupils blinked as she coughed to clear her throat. Purple Heart was ready to speak.
"People of Gamindustri, of Planeptune, of Lastation, of Leanbox, of Lowee, I am… glad that you could make it. On this day, one year precisely, did a tragic incident occurred that would scar us all the way until today. As you are all well aware, the settlement of Haruno Village was destroyed by… by a friend of ours. At least, we once was a friend. I need not describe what happened on that dreadful night, but needless to say, our world was never the same again," Purple Heart said in a soothing voice. Her arms were by her side and her head was lowered in respect for the dead. "Today, to mark the first anniversary of Haruno's remembrance we CPUs of Gamindustri have found it fitting to place this small monument here so we may remember all those who fell during that night. May they rest in peace, and may we never forget them. Ever."
Everyone bowed their heads in respect for the fallen once Purple Heart had finished speaking, their eyes stared direct at the ground below them as the rain pelted on their umbrellas, and down their necks for those who did not have an umbrella. Silence reigned over everyone for the next ten minutes; everyone's thoughts were on the events surrounding Haruno Village, well, at least one person's thoughts were. One of the four figures was thinking heavily about Haruno Village, more specifically the one who destroyed it. This figure saw her blue hair fall down over her eyes as the rain drenched her from head to toe, her red eyes with power symbol pupils blinked closed and her black dress – which she found contradicting to her own name – stuck to her body, fortunately for her she happened to be wearing a few layers underneath the dress. The CPU of Lowee stood out, not because of the way she looked but because of her relationship with Brian; everyone knew or had heard rumours about the two of them so when people began to lose faith and confidence in their goddesses it was the Lowean CPU, aside from Neptune, who had the roughest time.
White Heart knew that if she stayed in the rain without any source of warmth she would catch a cold, but that was not likely to happen any time soon – after all, she was the ruling goddess of the coldest nation in all of Gamindustri, and her choice of clothing was hardly anything but snug and warm. However, White Heart's thoughts were on a certain someone she loved, and hated. The Loweean CPU sighed silently and clenched her fists tightly. It pains me that I'm the only one who knew what was truly going on here on that fateful night: the return of the Dark Lord, the deaths of the Dark Captains and the massacre of those who had put their faith in that abomination. Still, what Brian did was unjust, even if they were all guilty.
After the ten minutes were up everyone raised their heads and stared at the village ruins, none of them really knew what to do next. In the end people began to disperse after placing their flowers by the stone obelisk, some others decided to stick around for a while longer to stare at the ruins or talk to themselves about certain topics of interest. The mood, despite still being grim, began to look up as the rain disappeared, yet the clouds and thunder did not. By the time it reach half past four in the afternoon – the memorial ceremony took place at some point in the morning – at least half of the three hundred or so people had already left, dozens more were already ready to head back to their homes, a few others were still standing around, what they were thinking was unknown.
Meanwhile, no one came to visit the CPUs, except for the small number of friends that they had already made prior to these events. Leaning up against a tree was Green Heart, her arms were crossed underneath her large breasts and her narrowed eyes were staring at a small group of people who were nearby; the CPU of Leanbox could hear them talking about something regarding the current situation the CPUs were in, and it did not sound good. The Leanboxian CPU sighed and looked over to her left where she saw a few of her comrades approaching, she gave them a small smile and a wave as they neared her. Green Heart locked eyes with Purple Heart and gave her a sympathetic smile. "Are you okay after that speech?" she asked her. "It sounded as if you were at a loss for words then."
The Planeptunian goddess gave her friend a smile in return. "I'm fine, Vert, thanks for you concern though. I just had a little trouble remembering the words is all, spent almost all night trying to memorise them with Nepgear helping me." She then turned over to her younger sister and clasped a hand over her left shoulder. "Thanks for helping me out."
Purple Sister beamed a bright smile back at Purple Heart, she was excited that her older sister had praised her for helping, it was not a usual thing to happen with all that had occurred over the last year. "Your welcome, Neptune. Just try not to strain yourself too much, alright?"
"Heh, I barely do any work so I wouldn't be saying that if I were you. Perhaps I should do some work to lighten up yours and Histoire's workload, it would make me feel less guilty," the goddess of Planeptune said, leaning up against a tree beside Green Heart. Her attention was caught by the sudden approach of Black Heart and Black Sister, the eldest of the two appeared to have heard what her comrades had been talking about and had something to say about it.
"Well it's about damn time you decided to do some work, Neptune," Black Heart said, voicing her opinion about the purple goddess. "You should try to be a lot more like me, not only am I just a great goddess but I work hard every day. You could learn a few things from me."
Purple Heart raised an eyebrow and stared at Black Heart in a questioning way before sighing. "I'm sorry, Noire, but I don't think I would learn anything. Not because I am a bad learner, but because I doubt you would make a good teacher, no offence or anything though." It was surprising for people to see Purple Heart behaving seriously, although she did seem sincere about it. "I am sorry, Noire. However, you could learn to liven up a bit and actually try to have some fun, you're going to work yourself to death if you keep up like this, not to mention that you're more hard-headed than ever."
"And is that a bad thing? Hmph. Whatever. At least I'm not a distant and cold person, like a certain someone." The Lastation goddess then glanced around and stared directly towards White Heart, who happened to be walking past them. The Loweean CPU stopped and glanced around at Black Heart, her eyes seemed to pierce through the souls of everyone who saw her. As White Heart continued on her way to a different part of the area the silver haired CPU sighed and looked back at Purple Heart. "See what I mean? Be glad that I'm not a stuck up bitch like her."
"That's rich, coming from you," Wolf Heart said casually as he and Iris Heart passed by her. As Black Heart stammered and growled at the wolf-like CPU both he and the large breasted sadist stopped and glanced back at the group. "By the way, we're heading back now. I don't think Peashy appreciates being left behind on days like these you know. Catch up soon."
"Right, we'll see you soon, Angel and Sadie," Purple Heart responded giving them a wave.
The two sadomasochists smiled at the group as the walked off back down the muddy track to Planeptune City alone leaving the rest of the CPUs and their human friends behind to mingle amongst themselves. It was clear that, despite all that had happened over the pat year, Angel and Plutia – as they were known – were very close and had hardly changed, although they had been trying to keep Neptune's spirits up, which was a hard task to accomplish. The two of them had usually spent their days just lazing around or playing games, or – in Angel's case – trying to invent the greatest, tastiest blueberry muffin ever known to Gamindustri, all attempts to do so just resulted in the kitchen getting half destroyed. However, one point of interest for everyone was how Peashy looked up to Angel, seeing him as a big brother figure.
Wolf Heart stretched his arms out and cracked his neck, sighing in relief. "Ah, that felt good," the bluish purple haired CPU said, scratching his back. He then glanced over at Iris Heart, the sadomasochistic goddess' black dress was sticking onto her skin and, unlike White Heart, she was not wearing much underneath. It set his mind racing with all sorts of thoughts.
Iris Heart noticed the stare and smiled seductively at her lover; she always enjoyed seeing Wolf Heart – or Angel if he was in human form – look at her in such a way, it always made her blood pump faster and her thoughts more lewd. Although, that was only in HDD form, in human form she was slightly oblivious to it. Regardless, Iris Heart purred and wrapped her arms around Wolf's right arm, bringing it in between her voluptuous breasts. "Come on now, I love it when you stare at me like that. I know you want to tear my wet, soaking clothes off. You know, I just might let you," Iris seductively informed the young man.
Wolf Heart grinned, showing his unusually sharp teeth. "Be careful what you wish for, I just might take you up on your offer you know." Then they began to chuckle in each other's embrace as the two of them were surrounded by a bright light, as the light died away it revealed the two sadists in their HDD uniforms and processor units. They then flew into the air and made their way back to the Planeptune Basilicom, their teasing time had ended. Along the way Iris noticed that Wolf was lost in thought.
"What are you thinking so hard about, Angie?" the dark purple haired woman asked as she flew right next to her lover, both ignored the lightning that thundered around them.
"Hmm? Oh, nothing much. I was just thinking about why Peashy likes me so much, it's kinda weird that she sees me as a big brother," Wolf replied, glancing back at Iris. "Is it something to worry about, right?"
Iris Heart shook her head. "No, there's no reason to worry about it. Actually, I think it's sweet that you're looking after her while she and I are stuck in this dimension, it's no wonder she looks up to you as a big brother figure. You should be proud of yourself for that."
Wolf looked at Iris as if she was a crazy lunatic. "You serious? I'm not so sure that it's a good idea for someone like her to look up to me as a big brother. Take a look at what happened to Rom and Ram when they declared Brian as their big brother. Well, nothing much happened, but they were overly attached to him, so when he disappeared they went into sulking mode. I can't imagine what Peashy would become if that happened with me."
"You'll be fine, trust me. I've taken care of her for a long time now, and while she may have had a hard upbringing she had turned out pretty well. You'll be fine, you have lasted this long with her around so you must be doing something right."
Wolf Heart sighed and looked ahead as the Planeptune Basilicom came into sight. "Yeah, guess you're right. Want to play a game while we wait for the others to return?"
Iris Heart giggled and kissed Wolf's right cheek, looking at him with a caring expression. "Very well then, I will take you up on your offer, though I would have preferred to have had some fun first, but I will admit that being in this form nearly all day does tire me out. I guess Peashy would probably want to play with us as well."
Wolf nodded, his usual expressionless face remained just that, expressionless. Although a small smile was trying to creep up over it. "Yeah, I suppose so. That wouldn't be bad, but it is troublesome as she isn't good at playing games, she just breaks things." That made Iris Heart laugh, which in turn made the wolf-like god smile internally, it made him happy to see her laugh and smile like that despite the day being grim.
Then something odd happened. Wolf Heart began to feel a tinge of pain developing inside him, he growled and rubbed his chest in an attempt to get rid of it. The sadomasochistic CPU from the Ultradimension looked at her lover and stared questioningly at him, yet decided not to ask him about it. He would, after all, dismiss her concerns and forget that it ever happened. This sort of thing had occurred before, in fact it had been going on for the last few months, and it always happened whenever he was in HDD. Iris Heart had no idea what was wrong with him, but eventually she knew that Wolf Heart would have to face it.
Meanwhile, back at the ruins of the village, things were not looking too well. As more and more people began to make the journey back to their homes- including Compa, IF and Victor after they said their goodbyes to the goddesses – things were starting to heat up between the goddesses, to be specific two of them. With less people around it made it a lot more easier for the CPUs to talk about matters that concerned them, one of which was a very sensitive subject that concerned White Heart closely. Black Heart stretched her arms out and shook her silver hair around as water dripped down her body, then a bright light enveloped around the tsundere goddess as she equipped her HDD uniform. "There, that's better," she said with a smile. "I'm glad to get back into this, a wet dress just isn't my style."
The others nodded as they all reverted back into their HDD uniforms. "True, I could just feel the stares burning into my back. Perverts," Green Heart muttered. However, some may have argued that Green Heart should have just stuck with wearing her dress, her outfit left little to the imagination.
"You said it, though I doubt all of them were staring at us just because they were perverts. Some of them were glaring at us, I could feel it," Purple Heart said, continuing to lean up against the tree. "I don't think this was nearly enough to make everyone start believing in us again."
"Of course it wasn't nearly enough. These people will not rest until we have cleared up the mess that was made, and I know how to do it," Black Heart declared with a prideful look, yet despite that everyone that was near her could sense that there was a grimmer and sadder look behind what she was showing. At any rate, all were intrigued to hear what she had to say, even White Heart. But what the Lastation goddess said next shook them all. "We will have to find Brian and… and… kill him."
Everyone was shocked at what Black Heart was suggestion, none more so than White Heart herself, in fact the Loweean CPU had an unnatural bloodlust in her eyes as she glared savagely at the Lastation CPU. As White Heart walked over to the group, scaring her younger sisters in the process, Purple Heart recognised where she had seen that look before: it belonged to Brian whenever he became too angry. As soon as White Heart was beside Black Heart the blue haired goddess drew her right arm back for a second before launching her fist forward, it collided with Black Heart's face, leaving a large red mark on her right cheek as she was sent to the ground.
Black Sister yelled at White Heart, unable to believe what she had just witnessed. "What the hell, Blanc?! What's gotten into you?!"
White Heart kept her glare directly towards Black Heart, who was starting to get back onto her feet as she rubbed her right cheek, her teeth were clenched together and a vicious look was in her eyes. The Lowean CPU, however, did not seem to care, instead she chose to speak to her in a not so friendly tone. "If you dare try to find Brian and kill him, then I'll end you," White Heart threatened, her fists clenched so tightly that blood could have trickled out.
"You'll kill me? I'd like to see you try!" Suddenly the air between the two goddesses became deadly and dangerous as they stared at one another, a light glowed around their right hands that, when it disappeared, showed their chosen weapons. White Heart and Black Heart were ready to fight.
Things would have escalated and turned into a bloodbath if it had not been for the two CPU Candidates of Lowee, Rom and Ram. They rushed in between the patron goddesses of Lowee and Lastation in an attempt to stop them from attacking one another, and it worked. "Come on you two, stop fighting!" Ram pleaded, glancing back and forth at her older sister and Black Heart.
"Uh huh," Rom added, nodding her head as a saddened expression adorned her face, tears would have started falling down her cheeks if she got even more upset. "I thought we were supposed to be friends."
After the Loweean Candidates pleaded for White Heart and Black Heart to calm down and be friendly again things seemed to calm down, at least the tension in the air felt to dissipate slightly at least. Neither goddess seemed to be genuinely pleased though, this was proven when they both glared at one another with the intent to fight. Eventually they both turned their backs to each other. "If you make any more threats towards me or Lastation then you will be in a worlds of pain, mark my words, Blanc," Black Heart threatened the Lowean CPU with a growl.
"If that's the case then let me give you a final warning: if you try to kill Brian or threaten me again, then you're dead, and that's a promise," White Heart promised in a threatening manner, then she glanced at Rom and Ram. "Come on, we're heading back home."
As the Loweean Candidates waved goodbye to the others, with heavily concerned expressions adorning their faces, and took off after their older sister, Black Heart glared viciously at White Heart before looking over at Black Sister. "Come on, Uni, it's time to leave," the patron CPU of Lastation informed her younger sister.
"What? O-Oh, right," Black Sister said before turning towards Purple Sister. "See you later, Nepgear."
"See you around," Purple Sister replied as the tsundere sisters of Lastation flew into the sky and headed towards the steam-punk nation of Gamindustri. As they disappeared into the distance the Planeptunian Candidate sighed and looked back at her older sister and the CPU of Leanbox; they were the only three people left outside the ruins of Haruno Village, but their thoughts were directed towards what they had just witnessed. "That was… unexpected. I never thought Blanc would do that to anyone."
Green Heart nodded, agreeing with Purple Sister. "True. We have all seen Blanc at her angriest, but this time it just felt different, like there was something else at work instead of her usual rage. Would it have something to do with how her Sharicite has some of Brian's Share Energy in it?"
"Possibly, it would make sense after all," Purple Heart responded. She brushed away her bangs and sighed. "Still, I'm glad that Black Heart didn't fight back once Rom and Ram entered the fray; if those two had fought then it would probably have been a bloodbath. We don't need a second Console War to break out, it would ruin everything we have accomplished to date."
"Speaking of Black Heart, where is Hiroshi? I thought those two were friends, so to not see him here is strange. Did Noire leave him behind or something?" the Leanboxic CPU inquired curiously.
Purple Sister looked over towards Green Heart and began to answer her question. "I think it might have something to do with his life. From what I heard from Uni it seems that Hiroshi is having a hard time with trying to keep up with his studies and work at the same time, being in college and everything. In fact, he and Noire haven't been hanging out together lately for the last several months, though there are the usual 'hellos' when they bump into each other, but nothing major. I think Noire is kinda upset about that, in her own way."
"I guess that would make sense," Purple Heart said, nodding her head. She then turned around and glanced at Green Heart with a small smile. "Care to join us back at our Basilicom and play some games? I think we need it after today."
The patron, and only, CPU of Leanbox smiled and nodded. "Very well, I shall take you up on that offer, I think we do need a couple of hours of games to brighten up the mood. Besides," Green Heart then forcefully wrapped her arms around the CPU Candidate of Planeptune, shoving Purple Sister's head into her well endowed breasts. "I need to spend time with my younger sister."
The senior goddess of Planeptune was clearly not amused with that claim, not did she show it. Instead, Purple Heart sighed and rubbed her temples with her left hand. "Please don't try to steal away Nep Jr, she's the only family I have – aside from Histoire acting as a mother."
Green Heart smiled yet continued to keep Purple Sister close to her, even when they flew back to the Planeptune Basilicom to play a game or two for the rest of the day; they needed to take a break from the stress that they went through. Still, despite all that had happened between White Heart and Black Heart, things appeared to have gone smoothly. However, it felt as if this was just the beginning, as if something was going to happen that they did not know about. Then again, something was always happening; but as the small group flew towards the Planeptune Basilicom Purple Heart got the feeling that there was something out in Gamindustri, plotting the downfall of all.
It just might be my mind playing tricks on me again, but I just can't shake of the feeling that we're all being watched. Purple Heart thought as she and the others neared the Basilicom. Let's just hope that nothing bad happens, too much as already gone down over the last year.
The evening was starting to settle across all of Gamindustri as the sky turned into shades of yellow and red; the level of activity in the city of Planeptune had not died down, instead it appeared to have risen slightly. News had spread about the goddesses participating in the memorial service of Haruno Village, and it was met with various opinions, but some it seemed had actually welcomed it, so a small step in rebuilding relations between humans and CPUs was on its way. Meanwhile, a couple were about to leave the comforts of a friend's home to pursue a date. They were standing side-by-side outside the front door of their friend's house, both were talking to said friend with smiles on their slightly embarrassed faces.
The friend's light creamy pink hair appeared to shine in the evening sunlight, which managed to break through the dark clouds for a short while; the friend was a girl who had a perky smile as she waved a goodbye to the couple. "Take care, Iffy and Victy," she said cheerfully as thye walked away side-by-side, waving their goodbye to her. The perky woman, Compa, sighed and turned around to re-enter her house. As the nurse opened the front door and stepped inside she could not help but think about IF and Victor. "To think that those two are living together in their own house, but in separate rooms. Still, it's really cute to see those two be together and get embarrassed."
IF the Guild Agent – or Wind Walker – and Victor the Wind Mage, meanwhile, were walking down the street towards the Planeptune Guild side-by-side, yet never holding hands while their faces had a tinge of red; despite dating for about a year they were still rather shy around each other, but there was the occasional affectionate moment between the two. Oddly enough, their dates usually consisted of doing some sort of deed for the Guild, such as doing a few missions and things like that. At that moment both were on their way to the Guild in order to choose a mission so they could have their date; it was not an entirely normal way to have a date, but both were Guild members so it worked out well for them. Most of the time they would choose a mission at random, other times they would choose one that was of great importance.
IF brushed away the bangs that were beginning to grow down her forehead and looked up at the dark sky, the last rays of the evening sunlight had disappeared. "This is going to put a damper on our d-date," she said, stammering the last word involuntarily. Despite being in a relationship with Victor for around a year she had never grown accustomed to the romance of it, neither had Victor for that matter.
Victor nodded, agreeing with IF's statement. "Indeed, and a damn pity I might add. Still, this just might mean that we could encounter some type of monster who likes the dark while we're out and about. Who knows, maybe we might come across some sort of new breed that we never knew of before."
The brown haired Guild Agent laughed, happy to see the enthusiasm that the cane-wielding man had. Nothing much had changed with IF and Victor with their looks, although their lives had indeed changed. It was true that they had bought a house for themselves so Compa would not have to feel uncomfortable, just as a precaution. The house was nearby to Compa's and a relative distance form the Guild, meaning that they could get a good morning or afternoon walk before doing an actual quest. But aside from that, nothing much else had changed between the two, other than the fact that IF's hair had grown slightly longer while Victor's top hat and one-buttoned brown trench appeared more dirty than before. There was one major change, however: IF had continued to learn the art of wind magic from Victor, and she was getting better at it.
A cool, light breeze blew through the air, rustling the trees as IF and Victor arrived outside the Guild. Once they arrived outside the entrance Victor stepped aside and chivalrously gestured for IF to enter first, his ruby-tipped cane pointed towards the door. "Ladies first," the chrome haired man said with a smile and a blush.
The Guild Agent smiled brightly and stepped forward with the Wind Mage following closely behind her, but when the two of them entered the main hall they surprised with what they saw. Dozens upon dozens of people were gathering around the large touch-screens that were spread across the walls and columns of the Guild hall, some were even hogging the space in front of the outdated billboards, gazing at the same thing. IF narrowed her eyes in suspicion and crossed her arms. "What the hell is going on here?" she asked, knowing that Victor too did not know.
The Wind Mage shrugged. "Perhaps it would be wise if we asked some of these people about it, then we would understand all of this commotion."
IF nodded and together the two of them approached the nearest touch-screen with the least amount of people hogging it, once they arrived at one the emerald green eyed agent looked over at a monster hunter she recognised and asked her a question. "What's going on here? Why are so many people hogging the billboards and touch-screens? Is there some sort of rare monster running around or something?"
The monster hunter glanced back and pointed at the screen. "That would depend on what you classify as a 'monster', just take a look at it."
Curious as to what was making everyone hyped up IF glanced at the screen, then she froze with a frightened expression; her teeth clenched tightly and her eyes were fixated on what was in front of her. Victor noticed the frightened look across IF's face before taking a look at the screen, he too stood with his eyes wide open and his mouth unable to close out of pure shock. What they were both seeing was not something they had expected. "Hey, Victor, are you seeing what I'm seeing?" IF asked, never taking her gaze off the screen.
"Yes, I'm afraid that I do see what you see," the Wind Mage replied, his fists clenched tightly around his cane. "This is… unexpected. We have to go and see Lady Histoire tomorrow about this."
The Guild Agent turned around and looked at Victor as if he was suggesting a bad idea. "Why not just tell her right now? It would be easier to do that instead of waiting a day you know."
"I know that, but Lady Histoire has been overly busy for the last few days and as such was even unable to attend the memorial service today. Plus, if we wait until tomorrow then we might figure out of this is actually true or not."
IF nodded, agreeing with his sage suggestion. "All right then, let's just hope that nothing bad happens from now till tomorrow." But why now of all times? It's been a year and now this happens? Only time can now tell what will happen next. She thought to herself, dreading for what was to come.
A/N: Yes, this is another author's note, but I gotta ask something. Is the term 'Lowean' correct or is it 'Loweean'? I know I've used 'Lowean' throughout The Rising Darkness and in the first chapter of this story so far, but I want to be correct with this. Oh, and does a group of Lastation people mean 'Lastationese'? I never seem to get that right. Oh, and I have been trying to draw a few of the characters for a better cover image, but I suck at drawing – I can draw stick men and mutant cockatoos at least – so I'm afraid there might not be anything like that, unless I can find a way around my lack of skills. Anyway, sorry for the bantering.
Just made a few edits, nothing major.