Disclaimer: I do not own Hyperdimension Neptunia or any references.

Summary: Will you save the world at the cost of being seen as the villain despite being the hero?

This is Fanfiction, anything could happen.

Ah, before I forget. Take the M-Rating seriously, please.

{Chapter I: Alice}

"SAMAEL!" My older brother shouted at me from below, face set in his semi-perma scowl on his face, our adorable little sister on his back waving at me. I waved back with a small grin, hanging from a sturdy branch upside down with my legs hooked as to keep me from going splat. This is normal, people walked past like minding their own business. Though I highly doubt it was because of this being a common occurrence than them being afraid of my brother. "What did you do?!"

I flipped upright, "Hm, I dunno, what did I do?"

"You damn well know what you did! Dammit Samael, why do you do this?!" My older brother's face twisted into a more prominent scowl as his arms began to shake. Whether it was because of sheer rage or him getting sore with carrying our little sister… eh, not likely girl was a lightweight. "You know we need those animals alive! We're barely scraping by as is, we don't need more bullshit!"

"Hey!" I fell to the ground with a thud, wobbling slightly, did that tree get bigger while I slept? Cause I swear it was not that high last time. Whatever. My older brother glared at me and I glared back, the action not as intimidating as he was almost two feet taller. "My killing is very efficient mind you! Those corpses sold at a nice price."

"Efficient my ass, all evidence lead to you!" See? Now this was why we can't have nice things, always assuming someone just because of a little thing like evidence. Don't make me laugh! "AND WE WOULD HAVE MADE MORE MONEY WITH THEM ALIVE!"

My older brother's fist against my face almost felt like a boar charging and hitting my stomach, why and how is he so strong? Was it the age? It gotta be the age, I mean I know he's eight years my senior but c'mon! I idly wondered if there was a way to get stronger quicker even if after I 'tripped' and fell on the ground. Our little sister, cute little thing, Helel, gasped in shock at the show of violence.

Shame on you older brother!

How dare you show unnecessary violence in front of an infant?! She can barely walk, what if she tries to mimic you and attack someone way out of her league and we aren't there for her? What then?!

I deliberately ignored the fact I admitted killing animals in front of her, because punching someone is so much worse.

"You...!" My older brother reared back for another punch, but for some reason lost his will and just sighed. "You were taking mercy on them... weren't you?"

"Whatever do you mean?" I totally didn't target the already dying animal who would have only suffered have they continued living with no hope for a cure. Nope, that totally wasn't my intentions, it just was just pure coincidence it looked like that. My bloody body clearly showed my brutality in killing them. This was not an act of mercy, this was an act of evil. They totally weren't already blood and were running around with everything splattering everywhere.

"Hehe, Sammy's weird." Helel giggled, her blonde locks shined in the light.

I was shocked, my adorable sister, how could you?! "I thought you already knew that! Little sis you're making big bro cry!"

My finger poked my older brother's, whose name was Michael, eyes and said, "See? Poor Mikey's practically bawling!"

"I-I'm sowwy."

"It's okay! I forgive you," My hands went under her armpit and took our sister from the crying Michael, I wasn't too worried about the blonde bastard, he took way worse than this. The life of a farmer was more difficult than what people were led to believe. It made a person tough, among other things. "Who could ever be mad at someone like you? I want to meet that person and tap-tap his face!"

That was a censored stab by the way, I couldn't possibly say that in front of my cute little sister.

I turned on my heel and left my writhing brother on the ground, I wasn't too worried I hurt him, the guy took worse in his time as a man in our village so something as little as a poke to the eye should be nothing but an annoyance to him. Plus, this wasn't uncommon.

"Hm, hey little sister of mine, what should we buy for lunch?" It was always good to have options and finding eggs in decent condition outside of the village walls was kind of hard, since most of the animals outside were mammals. Before their father died he taught them the important lesson of always having eggs in meals.

"Uhm… ice c-"

"I'm sorry my dear sister but ice cream is not an option."

"B-But you asked…"

"Hm, I suppose we can buy it as dessert." There's nothing wrong with a little ice cream every now and then, even if the cold treat was rare to find in their town I could look through the merchant's stalls at a later time after I drop Helel back home. "With that out of question I'm gonna look through what our main dish will be,"

"No tofu."

"B-Beloved sister, surely you jest?"

Helel turned my head to look at her pouting face, "You promised!"

I sighed, why did she have to be so cute? Such cuteness should be unfair, or is it just my inner sis-con awakening when we actually had one? Hmm, whatever. "Fine, then how about some fish? Its been a while~"

"No!" Helel banged her fist against my back, "I hate fish!"

"Dear sister, you shouldn't be picky." With their issue with money, being picky about their food was the last thing they should be. It should be a while until they pay back their debt or until I could end this farce once and for all, but until then.

"But you don't eat e-egu, the purple things!"

"I'm lethally allergic so I'm exempted."

"Then I lethalry allergric too!"

"I'm afraid it doesn't work like that."

We did our business in the markets and bought what we needed at minimum, with a discount thanks to my awesome bartering skills. Now that it was time to head on home my little sister decided it was nap time and slept with her head on top of mine, leaning slightly to the left. If I wasn't so focused on keeping my head perfectly straight I would've squealed like a highschool girl from her adorableness. People avoided us, of course, that was completely natural.

Helel and I were different, and people seemed to fear that.

This cannot be happening, this was bullshit! How could I let this happen!? My stupidity was going to cost me, why the heck did my brother not tell me this?! Why, why, why, why, WHY?! This shouldn't be happening, what did I do wrong? Was it the slacking- no, it can't be the slacking, everyone slacks, then could it be the poking of the eye- no, I do that all the time…

The black haired girl stared at me like I was crazy.

"Uh, you okay?"

My smile was so forced it was painful, "Of course! Never better actually, its not like I was just ripped away from my sister's second birthday by some job I didn't even know about. Yeah, I'm totally fine."

The girl, Uni her name was, coughed uncomfortably and moved forward. She passed the town's borders and was officially out of our protection… until two or so kilometers then she was really out of our protections. I sighed and followed after her.

"So what made you come out here this far in the boonies? I'm pretty sure a pretty girl like you should be in the main city playing with your friends." My thoughts were genuinely curious, it wasn't everyday someone came here looking for help. This girl looked like one of those independent types as well.

Uni smiled, as if she was mocking me even, "I'm on a mission and unfortunately only one of you guys know how to get there. I don't know why it had to be you though."

I knew, it was because of my gift.

It wasn't unique to me, or anyone really, who knows? People with the Gift of Magic were a literal one in a million. From what people could record in history those with the Gift of Magic were beings that could rival even the Goddess if they've trained or were talented enough. Not only were they capable of matching them, they could even surpass them…

So yeah, that's a thing.

The way it works is simple, you were born with the Gift and there's no other way to get it. You have either one, two or three affinities. The most recorded being seven. It was a way to tell their potential and only their potential. Someone could have one affinity and best the one with three with major difficulty.

Another thing to note, revealing your affinity was tantamount to having sex with your beloved. So yeah, don't do that. Besides, they'll figure it out themselves sooner or later.

"Don't know either," I shrugged, taking out a piece of paper and read it. "So all I have to do is escort you down the caves and back? Seems easy enough, I can handle a couple of Fenrirs. No Dragons though, those things are tough and my track record against them isn't really that good."

"Ah, I see, well at least you aren't completely useless." Uni huffed.

I snapped, "Shut up,"

She gaped, "Why you-"

"No, seriously, shut up. We're almost there." And by 'there' I meant we're almost a kilometer reaching The Junkyard where all the pieces of shit go to die. Whether they be machines, appliances, pets, animal and even humans. Anything in the world, you can find it here… dead. "Don't make a sound,"

Uni raised a brow but followed my orders, as she should, I was the one familiar here not her. If she even tried to order me around I seriously hope she can handle a punch cause I'm seeing a target and my fist is notched.

Then she almost puked, or whatever wide eyes, pale skin and a horrified expression meant. Was this her first time seeing a corpse? Man, people in the city must have it lucky. Even Helel has seen one, and that was our father after I...

The Junkyard was a lot like the rumored Gamindustri Graveyard, the sky was grey and there were junk everywhere, though it looks like the most common were human corpse. The girl behind me gasped in fright at the scenery, I was glad she took my words seriously as nay a sound came out. Her eyes jumped from side to side, frantically moving as if this were all an illusion… which was half-right.

I poked out my index finger and spelled out what I wanted to say on her shoulder, [In here we're always given an urge to kill ourselves, the weak willed fall first and if we have a strong will or resistance to territorial magic, it won't affect us… as much. This also takes injuries into account, the more severe they are, the more you want your suffering to end.]

[Basically its extreme mental urging with a two and a half mile radius]

Her eyes widened even more as her skin paled.

[I'm guessing you just felt it?] Uni nodded, [Ignore it, don't let it control you.]

We managed to make it half-way before the something happened, monsters appeared from the piles of junk in the form of shambling skeletons. Armed with a sword, bow and a shield. They came in in droves, one from the left and seven to the right and now fifteen to the left.

"Skeletals," I muttered, taking out the sword strapped on my back. "...Do you mind if you leave this to me? These things aren't that hard to take down and I doubt you have anything that's quieter than a silenced gun."

She gaped at me, then frowned deeply, "You better explain yourself later."

I felt my lips stretch, a familiar sensation bubbling from within me. "It would be my pleasure."

My blood lust was through the roof, I could feel my heart beating against my chest. My eyes snapped to my side and saw yet another group of skeletons join us, it didn't need to be said when I glanced back to my companion. Any type of gun, even with a silencer, was considered 'too loud' and thus she should leave this to me. The girl was reluctant and mad, she must think I'm underestimating her since she was a girl, when the truth was the opposite.

"Now then," I licked the back of my blade, my saliva turning purple which then imbued itself to the blade. My eyes flashed as my blood leaked out of my mouth, "Let's make a requiem."

Skeletal monsters were the lowest of the low, cannon fodder mobs, useless trash mobs, best used in mass since they were so weak they have little to no relevance otherwise. I have high confidence in my combat ability, even if I was just ten, ten trash monsters shouldn't be that difficult right?

The first group of skeleton greeted me as if I was some old friend that cheated on them with their girlfriend and then ran off with all their money, basically they came at me with a drive to kill. My blade clashed with one and as I let mine slide down its length and decapitated my opponent I spun on my axis, bisecting two skeleton that flanked and stabbed their heads while downed. My hands bolted from the hilt and slammed into the flanking skeleton's shield, piercing through it and killing the corpse behind it.

I took back my sword and faced the remaining foes.

"Don't die too quickly." My blade glowed purple and shined ominously. The skeletons took a step back, seemingly in fear despite being unable to. Thus was the influence of someone with the Gift. They could make the dead fear, but they could never make a baby not cry… so many sleepless nights dear sister. "Cause I'm gonna need the training."

When our blades crashed, some purple liquid flew out and landed on it. Steam began coming out and it seemed to scream before melting into goo, I rested the still purple blade oozing goo on my shoulder, "I thought I told you not to die too quickly! How are we going to make a requiem now?!"

Uni was still behind me, gaping, and trying not to breathe in the fumes… smart girl. I thought I would've been responsible for another death. This was another reason why I was surprised I was picked earlier, people around me die and die and die even if I don't want them to they will still die, everything was a cycle of life and death? Yeah right, with me it was all death and only death.

Side note: My fumes were enough to kill a grown man twenty times over.

Once everything was clear and my requiem failed, we made it a point to get through The Junkyard at Uni's urging. It looked like my little show back there spooked her, scare? Nah, but definitely startle. We spent a good part of an hour climbing through junk and dead bodies, it was gross and unsettling, but it was either that or trudge through a swamp of blood… something I'm sure Uni won't appreciate.

"Is that the cave?" The girl asked, pointing to an opening in the mass of bodies. "You didn't tell me we're going in a bunch of corpses!"

"Eh, you never asked."

"I so did ask!"

"Then I never bothered, now come on, there's still a long way to go." I jumped down and landed on top of a man's skeleton, crushing it in the process. My, what a brittle thing that was. Surely it couldn't have been that long since he died right? Most of the bodies outside were a year or two in their decomposing process and the bodies here were around a decade or five old. Some still had flesh on them but those were far in between.

So far this place had no name and most likely will never have one if people don't get used to stepping on corpses. I was one of 'those' people who don't care about small stuff.

"Ugh, this place reeks." Uni scrunched her nose. "And the floor feels… squishy…"

It was laughable how so little information the major cities got about us, nevertheless I was more than willing to share what I know... even if what I know isn't something anyone should tell someone. "What your standing on is actually human flesh. Legends say that some really old dude with the Gift made this place because of his insanity from losing his wife."

"So he turned to human topography?! That is seriously gross." I shrugged, people with The Gift were always ostracized and shunned. Maybe it was jealousy, maybe it was fear, but no one was willing to interact with people like us. Even our own parents say, if we were to bond with other people, even our own siblings and family… they will die.

To be honest I could see that happening. It doesn't take long for someone with the Gift to make enemies… I really need to make a name so I don't have to say, 'someone with the Gift' all the damn time.

Most deaths concerning people with the Gift were almost always either suicide, or ransom traps. People take what little they care about and kill them then or they kill themselves from sheer loneliness, or they couldn't take it anymore.

So when someone raised and trained in isolation who grew up with the belief of him connecting to others would lead them to harm meet up with someone who didn't care, and the later dies from unknown reasons? The man became insane with his power and grief, turning into a madman bent on enacting revenge that could never be enacted.

"There should be some spots left free from corpses and flesh," I informed the girl, somehow making her jump despite the innocent words. They weren't even spoken with a tone made to fright, but it looked like it was enough to make Uni jump. My brow quirked.

"You dragged in into some cave made out of corpse and skeletons, how else do you expect me to react?! At least some prior warning would've been appreciated, but you gave me nothing!"

"What else would you have expected? 'Uh, we're heading to a cave of corpses with walls and floors of flesh and skeletons.' Yeah and I'm a God, who would even believe that?" She scowled but didn't say anything, "It's a stupid spot, now are we just going to stand here or are we moving? This place is creepy as hell!"

"And now you care? You were so comfortable walking on human corpse a second ago," Her finger pointed to a pile of dust, "That was a skeleton, and you stepped on it, and ruined it. Remind me again why we're here?"

"Don't you speak to me with that tone woman, I am younger than you and thus you are setting a bad example as my elder." Flat chest aside, she was older than me. That was truth, even if I'm above average height for my age I was still only an inch taller than her… ow. "I didn't say anything!"

"You didn't have to, I know enough to know you said something to deserve to be slapped."

I pursed my lips, from what research tells me and by research I mean my older brother's pathetic attempts to pick up women while I watched, I realized that commenting on a girl's chest. Young or mature, plot or justice, either or… is never a good idea. Looks like there's another thing to add to the list of the mystery known as women. Also their age, never mention their age unless you want to die or be really hurt.

"...Actually, what are we doing?" All I was informed of was where we were going and not what we're going to be doing there. "This place isn't on the map for a reason and there's not a lot to find here except maybe some archaic bones and weapons. Something you've already surpassed."

Uni looked at me as if I'd grown two heads, "Right, but you never asked so I assumed you already knew... you've heard of the Demon Child Alice, right? It appears as a young blonde girl, but don't be fooled, she's a ghost, a really powerful one. An evil spirit, I'm here to exercise her."

"KEEP HER AWAY!"

"Oh?" This… may be troublesome.

When you got used to the squishy feeling of flesh floors and the feeling of turning some skeletons into ash, it wasn't as creepy as anyone might've first thought it would. Mind you it was still sort of creepy, especially when your foot sunk in and the flesh envelops it, and when there was a puddle of questionable substance… I was really considering naming this place as, 'The Living Vagina Cave' or 'The Vagina Cave' for short. Since it pulsates every five to ten seconds.

"How much longer do we have to go?" Uni asked, doing all she can not to walk into the now much more common puddle of blood and sinkholes. Her legs up to just below her knee looked like blood had dried and her eyes were bloodshot with annoyance, it was a humorous scene really. "Is that girl even here?!"

Well from the shill shout earlier I hereby conclude that yes, Alice is here and she is scared of this girl. I don't know why nor do I care, but this was gonna be very annoying. "I'm thinking she is, otherwise us going here is pointless, there is nothing of interest here other than what its made of."

"Ugh, this is taking forever!" I don't know what the hell you're talking about Uni but this pace was actually very impressive, taking into account our experience or lack thereof I can proudly say we're the equivalent of a charging bull when we walked into this cave. Bulldozing whatever came our way. My estimations are, we should be able to reach the end of this cave in four hours… and then the seven we used to get to this point and five to come out of the graveyard. Then another seven to reach home. Coming up to a total of two days used in this job.

Not that long now that I think about it, now if only it was three days earlier.

"Ding dong I know you can hear me," Uni froze up as my hand slammed towards my sword, "Open up the door, I only want to play a little,"

"D-Do you hear that?" Uni asked, with a small stutter. Her red orbs moving side to side in a panic, though she doesn't see anything they could hear it. The girl, Alice, she was signing.

I quietly nodded, my eyes narrowing on the small shadow approaching around the corner.

"Ding Dong, you can't keep me waiting." Uni stood behind me with her rifle at my back, "Its already too late, for you to try and run away."

"I see you through the window," We switched position, "Our eyes are locked together."

My eyes snapped away from pale blue, "I can sense your horror."

Uni frowned, "Though, I'd like to see it closer."

"Kya!" The girl squeaked when she saw pale blue with black eyes. Fair blonde hair and greenish-gray skin, her eyes were blue with everything else as black. She wore a blue dress and had two dolls that suspiciously looked like us.

I swung my sword and met nothing, which is what I'd hoped for. Enclosing my hand on Uni's trembling shoulder I turned and began my run back to the clearing.

"Ding dong here I come to find you," I could feel the air stiffening, "Hurry up and run, let's play a little game and have fun."

Magic coursed through the blade and as I lodged it into the nearby wall, creating a crack that made the hallways tremble, and as we entered the clearing the path collapsed. Blocked by boulders which leaked out purple gas.

"A-Are we safe?" Uni looked like she had just seen her own death, to be honest it was like I had seen mine too. There was no doubt about it, this was Alice. Our target, the powerful ghost of a little girl that's singing a ripped-off song. "S-Samael, t-that was…!"

"Alice, yeah," I felt the hair behind my neck straighten, "We should probably move, this place isn't good enough for us to fight."

"Ding Dong where is it you've gone to? Do you think you've won?" Her voice phased through the rocks, almost as if there was nothing there. One pale blue eye with black popped through the rocks, "Our game of hide and seek has just begun."

"RUN!" I shouted.

"I can hear you're footsteps," Uni ignored the voices coming from all around, focusing on running and not appear spooked by the spectral arms. Her dress got ripped by some but was not worse for wear. "Thumping loudly through the hallways."

"I can hear you're sharp breaths," I quickly calmed myself, trying not to use too much energy from fear. Blood dribbled down my leg, "You're not very good at hiding."

"Just wait. You can't hide from me," I was making the path collapse as I ran, "I'm coming."

"Just wait. You can't hide from me," I was hacking through labored breaths, "I'm coming,"

"Just wait. You can't hide from me," Uni had enough and turned to shoot. "I'm coming."

"Just wait. You can't hide from me," Uni screamed when Alice's face appeared inches from her with a wide fanged grin.

I dropped a boulder in front of her, enveloping Alice into the rock, I didn't know if it worked or if it didn't but there were better ways to use my time than pondering. Once again I took hold of her shoulder and ran.

"Knock knock I am at your door now," WHAT DOOR?! WE ARE IN A CAVE! "I am coming in, no need for me to ask permission."

"Knock knock, I am inside your room now," Dang, I ushered Uni to go ahead. The girl, with wide eyes and a look that said, 'Are you an idiot?!' Nevertheless, she followed with very heavy reluctance, and passed through a secret path we just discovered. "Where is it you've hid?"

"Our game of hide and seek's about to end." Samael, do not show fear. You will live through this experience and you will go back to your family. "I'm coming closer."

"Looking underneath your bed, but-" I rolled out of cover and faced the blonde ghost's back, positioning myself to end this in one strike. "You're not here, I wonder."

Her head twisted backwards and looked at me with glazed, pale blue orbs. "Could you be inside the closet?"

"Tch," We stared at each other as my glade grew more and more purple, my eyes narrowed in concentration and calmed my heavily beating heart.

"Ding Dong, I have found you." Her smile seemed innocent, much like when she was alive. The grey-ish green skin

"Ding Dong you were hiding here," Alice began glowing grey, oozing with black tendrils as she floated closer and closer. "Now you're it."

"Ding Dong, finally found you dear," Alice placed her hands on my cheeks as fear kept me in place, "Now you're it."

My blade clattered on the ground, "Ding Dong, looks like I have won now, you're it."

What came out of my mouth was distorted, twisted and ghastly. "Ding Dong, pay the consequence."

Uni's eyes widened as Samael began to scream, it was infuriating, just how did that man convince her to leave him alone to deal with her problem!? So several meters into the secret path Uni turned and headed back, determined to help her guide. Like when she left, it didn't take her long to come back, she blames how graspable the skeletons were and how stuck they were to the wall.

She could hear voices coming from the hole, her heart pumping like crazy as her mind crafted crazy possibilities as she panicked even more. Noire was going to be disappointed, how could she have left one of her own people. Yeah she was scared, but that was no excuse for a CPU.

When she pushed aside some hanging vine-like flesh she saw an odd sight, Samael was on his knee with his blade lodged into the ground. It didn't look like a fight broke out nor did the kid get hurt… he was already doused in blood before she left so that wasn't an issue.

Uni waited for Alice to pop out and kill her or him and when she didn't, the girl walked out of the secret with a gun in her hand. Looking around the room, she spotted nothing of interest.

"Samael." Uni called, relief flooding her being when he twitched. "Samael!"

"Uni?" He muttered, his eyes still purple despite being a shade lighter. It was a thing to be concerned about but she was just glad he's alive. She fussed over him like a mother but the only thing she could find on his body was his hair, its roots were now white.

"Ding Dong pay the consequence," Alice's voice sang.

AN: Thanks for reading and Feedback is much appreciated!

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AN: Alright this is the real author's note, firsts things first I apologize for my inactivity as I've been quite busy with life and have been trying to make time to write. So yeah, I'm really sorry, and since school's ended I'll be able to write more often now. So for those interested in this please bare with me and enjoy.

[The song sung by Alice is Hide and Seek made by Ho-ong-i originally sung by the Korean Vocaloid SeeU]