Some say that the world will end in fire,
others say in ice.
from what I've tasted of desire,
I hold with those who favour fire.
but if I had to perish twice,
I think I know enough of hatred
to say that for destruction ice
is also great
and would suffice.
Fade to White Act I
Fire and Ice
Chapter 1- All That Begins…
"Come on! We have to get out of here!" a young man shouted as he sprinted down a vacant hallway. Though he was heard by his friend, his friend barely heard the words over the incessant alarm that filled the area. The area appeared to be a wing of a military fort... a military fort from this time period that is. Sleek walls and oddly designed doors… they clearly weren't products of the twenty first century. The young man who'd shouted those words was quite tall; he stood a little over six feet and had the look about him of one who'd seen things that no one should have to see. His short, dark brown hair was combed straight and was soaked with sweat; his striking, ice blue eyes matched his exhausted expression. Whatever he was running from, it was clear that he'd been running from it for a while. He wore a closed, pitch black coloured jacket that seemed to be armoured on the shoulders and chest area with what appeared to be black metal in the shape of scales. Hanging around his neck was a charm necklace in the shape of a dragon, the dragon itself seemed to be made of a high-end silver and glimmered in the light. Decorating his legs was a pair of dark jeans that seemed to be reinforced with some other material, could be Kevlar fibers, or something more advanced…
"Shut up! They're gaining on us and we shouldn't be wasting our energy talking!" said the other young man. He appeared roughly the same age as his presumable friend, however he was not quite as tall as his friend. He had a head of pitch black hair which seemed to stand at attention; however it wasn't long enough to be considered a spike pit. If laid flat it would actually be shorter than his friends' hair. He had a pair of chocolate chip coloured eyes that bore the same exhausted expression that his friends had. Rather than at least being clothed in some form of armour, what he was wearing was completely casual. Despite his friends' metal scale armoured jacket, he didn't even wear the smallest amount of military related gear. Instead, he had a pitch black longcoat that matched the colour of his hair. The hood of the coat was down and had a unique gray coloured design. Beneath the long jacket he wore a perfectly clean white shirt, not even the smallest stain could be seen on the perfectly clean, cloud coloured fabric. To match the colour of his jacket, he wore a pair of stonewashed black jeans, it appears gray however it wasn't exactly the same as his jacket, but close enough.
"I can hear them… Reaver, draw your weapons, we're coming up on a dead end…" The one in the armoured jacket said as he took the cover off the blade of the large Glaive that he was carrying. It was an example of the ultimate combination of modern and ancient technology, not only was the overall design of the Glaive completely practical, but it also had enough capabilities to avoid the disadvantages it might have against a machine gun. At the butt end of the Glaive was an opening, an opening for a machine gun function, the magazine was held just twelve inches up the length of the great spear. The very shaft and blade appeared to be made of two different alloys, a light coloured, lighter weight alloy for the shaft, and a denser, yet more flexible alloy for the blade. Speaking of the blade, the very tip of it appeared to be hollow… but for what? Was there a hidden enhancement to the weapon? Either way, it was an absolutely beautiful weapon… the slick black design and the leather wrapping around the handle may not have contributed a lot to its practicality, but at least it would look pretty as it killed people!
"No need to tell me twice, Silas… we'll make our stand here. We may not stand a chance of survival, but at least we can take a whole lot of them to the grave with us!" From within his jacket, John produced what appeared to be a large handgun with multiple modifications, an M93 Raffica to be exact. It seemed to have an incredibly sleek design, the grip was thick, but that could only be concealing a lethal enhancement for the weapon. The gun was not the only weapon he drew; he also drew a blade from his side. It appeared to be made of the same alloy as Silas' Glaive; however it had some very different enhancements. One half of the swords crossguard was hollow at the end and had a trigger hanging off of it, making up a gun mechanism, the other half looked like it could disconnect, perhaps it was a charge used to electrify the blade? The hilt was wrapped in rubber so, if it was, he wouldn't feel any shock.
In summary, they both wielded highly advanced hybrid weapons. As they came to the dead end, they stopped and got into position. The moment the soldiers pursuing them turned the corner, both Silas and John began raining down bullets on them. The first three soldiers were gunned down but then the others took cover around the corner. "I'll lay down suppressing fire, advance on them with caution!" Silas said to Reaver just over the sounds of gunfire. He only had a couple other magazines for his Glaive so he wasn't sure how long he'd last… With a nod, Reaver got low and began to advance on the position of the other soldiers. Both of them had already resigned to the fate of death… but there was no way either of them were going to go out silently. 'Shit! Jam!' Silas thought as his eyes went wide and his Glaive stopped firing. "Reaver get behind something!" Silas shouted as the remaining soldiers turned the corner and began firing on them. There wasn't anything to hide behind; they were both as good as dead at this point…
"It's been an honour fighting with you…" Reaver said as he closed his eyes and braced himself for death… but then they vanished without a trace. The fired bullets met the back wall and the soldiers who fired them were paralyzed due to the shock.
"Wh-Where did they…?" The commander managed to whisper as he looked on at the spot where the cornered soldiers once stood. 'What happened? We were so close to executing those damn traitors…' The commander swiftly shook his head and turned to face his remaining men. "We have no choice… if we say we killed them, the general will ask for proof… We shall report exactly what happened to him." The commander said before walking right past his men, both living and dead. But… one obvious question plagued his mind…
Where did they vanish to?
Suddenly, they were falling from the sky, they were both too shocked to say a word, that and they didn't want any insects to fly into their mouths if they opened them. Eventually, Silas decided to speak up. "What in the hell happened? Are we dead? Never been religious but… are we falling into He-" Suddenly he stopped talking and began coughing and spitting as a bug had flown into his mouth. 'Urgh! I knew I shouldn't have started talking!' He thought as grimaced at that absolutely terrible taste. 'Well, I tasted that thing, so I guess I'm alive… though, at this height and with this velocity? Not for much longer!'
Reaver learned from Silas' great misfortune to cover his mouth before responding. "I don't think so, I mean look, I can make out a forest below and I don't think Hell is known for its extensive forests!" He said before they both fell out of the clouds and got a look at the landscape that would possibly claim their lives. It was… actually quite beautiful. Rolling hills, large forests, great lakes, and what might be a city could be spotted on the horizon. "I have no idea… probably not, I don't remember what we were doing that warranted this, but I don't think that we can escape death now! Unless you have a parachute that I don't know about…"
"Afraid not… I guess all we can do is hope a dark haired tsundere girl with twin-tails is placed in an inexplicably convenient location to break our fall!" Well… seeing as how this is a Hyperdimension Neptunia fanfiction and Noire is the games' assigned landing pillow… what the hell do you think? Of course she's going to be there and of course I'm not going to kill of the two main characters in the first chapter of this fanfic! Oh no… you all are going to have to deal with them for much longer so get comfortable and grab some popcorn!
Well… looks like Silas was right, there was indeed a dark haired tsundere girl with twin-tails conveniently placed right where he was going to land! But that wasn't going to happen now; I have to introduce the rest of the character cast first. These guys you ought to be familiar with though. So dark haired tsundere, okay that takes too long to type so I'm just going to give away her name, it's Noire if you haven't figured it out already, was out simply enjoying the great weather with her four other friends, if you could call them that. "Come on! Hurry up you guys before I leave you in the dust!" She called out to the others as they came over a hill. "It's about time… it took you all long enough."
"Awwww well aren't you little miss grumpy pants today? C'mon! At least let us enjoy the weather, little miss Noire…" A little girl with short purple hair and a lot of pep in her step said as she skipped over towards Noire. She seemed like the kind of person who always had a smile plastered on her face and it would take a lot in order to get her to frown even slightly. Someone like that was usually…very stupid.
"I'm not grumpy! I just don't feel like waiting around for you guys… sheesh Neptune…" Noire said with a roll of her eyes as she leaned up against a nearby oak tree and looked up at what little of the sky she could see. "There's a clearing up ahead and you don't always get this kind of weather so I want to hurry up and get there so we can look up at the clouds."
"Patience… you shall see your clouds soon enough." A blonde girl with breasts the size of record-breaking watermelons walked up the hill with a girl who had breasts the size of no breasts right behind her. "Look around you, the forest is beautiful enough as it is." She said as she surveyed the trees around her. Well… she was right; the forest was quite beautiful, especially on a perfect day like today.
"For once, I agree with the walking pair of tits, we'll walk at whatever pace we want. Go ahead if you want." The girl with the polar opposite size said with a sigh as she walked ahead of the quote 'walking pair of tits' known simply as Vert.
"Uhhhh… hey Blanc, where's Plutie? Did ya' leave her behind back at the river?" Neptune (AKA Neppy Nep) asked as she held her hands as a false pair of binoculars and searched for her airhead/sadist of a friend. Honestly… that girl couldn't find her way out of a cardboard box unless you gave her slow, painfully detailed instructions on how to get out and, even then, there was only a fifty-fifty chance of her figuring it out.
"I don't know, nor do I really care." The flat girl with short brown hair said simply as she sat down on a fallen log and pulled out a small book to read as a way to pass the time until the airhead showed up. Of course, knowing Plutia, they could be sitting there waiting for her for years, if they were lucky.
Oh? What's this? Looks like they were obscenely lucky this time around! Plutia showed up mere seconds after she was mentioned. The girl with light lavender hair ran towards them, waving her hand in the air and dragging a stuffed animal along the ground with her, poor little guy… "Hey guyyyyyyyys~! Wait for meeeeeeeeeee~!" She said as she finally caught up with the others. "I was sooooooo worried that I'd never catch up! Can you go slower next time? Please…?" She asked before turning her gaze up to the sky and tilting her head slightly to the left.
"We weren't going very fast… maybe you should pick up the pace next time instead." Noire huffed as she stood up and walked right into the middle of the path, right into the to-be landing zone… She could hear what sounded like voices… "Huh? Do you guys hear that? Or am I going crazy?"
"Noire… there are sky-people again! Just like Neppy!" Plutia said as she pointed her hand back up towards the sky, right at both Silas and Reaver as they descended to a height of a hundred meters above Noire's head and they were swiftly closing that distance.
"What do you… oh no not again!" Remember how I said she was in the landing zone? I lied. The spot right next to her was the landing zone and she instinctually stepped right into it, thinking that she was dodging someone falling from the sky. WRONG! Poor Noire… I sincerely apologize, but this is your role as assigned to you by the game.
And now the moment you've all been waiting for! With a massive crash, Silas came down right onto Noire! That was good because that means that he'll live, but it's bad because now we have one pissed off tsundere sick of being a landing pillow! Silas quickly got off of her and stumbled around before regaining his balance. "H-Hey are you alright? I'm so damn sorry! Argh, sheesh I wish I could've controlled my movements in the air. Here, let me help you up." Silas said as he offered Noire his right hand. He was amazed about how he was able to survive the fall, but he was more worried about the person who'd broke that fall than himself at the moment. He was fine, but he didn't know about Noire.
"I-I'm fine! Happens all the time…" She pushed his hand aside and got up to her feet… but then John crashed down onto her just as she got back up onto her feet. This really wasn't her day… Although, she was probably very used to it by now so it was likely that it didn't faze her all that much.
"Urgh… my everything… Silas, how the hell are we still alive?" Reaver asked as he rubbed his head and fanned away the large cloud of dirt that had gathered with the enormous fall. He couldn't hear Noire's muffled protests over the throbbing pain coursing throughout his whole body. Well pain just means that you're still alive so he couldn't complain all that much, he just silently thanked every last deity he could think of that he survived the absurdly high fall that honestly should have killed him.
"That's how." Silas said as he pointed to Noire who was currently pinned underneath the weight of Reaver's body. He couldn't help but feel bad for the girl... first he landed on her, then she got up, then Reaver landed on her. Honestly, how terrible can one person's luck be? On the bright side, if her luck is that bad when it comes to everything, that means that she should be easy to take advantage of in games like Poker or Black Jack… wait! Why the hell was he thinking that right now? Bad Silas bad!
"What are you- oh…" He noticed that he'd landed on the dark haired tsundere girl with twin-tails that Silas spoke of earlier and quickly got off of her. "Damn… you were spot on with your description, are you a psychic or something?" Reaver asked as he gawked at the girl who slowly got to her feet… and then frowned when he noticed the incredibly pissed off look on her face. "Wow, looks like you were right about the tsundere part too… Sorry 'bout the landing."
"Please don't tell me there are three of you…" Noire said as she took two steps back just in case… and walked right into the path of a falling acorn. "Urgh, next thing you know the sky is going to fall on me!" Upon saying that, she briefly looked up to make sure that no random pieces fell down on her… or if anything else planned to crash down on her.
Neptune couldn't contain her laughter and to lose all control, bursting out into a fit of laughter that was so great that absolutely no joke in existence was worthy of it. "O-Oh man…! I-I can't stop… bwahahahaha!" She could barely talk and breathe she was laughing so hard. Noire simply sighed and shook her head at Neppy Neps' almost uncontrollable laughter.
"How immature…" Blanc said with a roll of her irritated looking eyes. All this noise was disturbing her focus on her book and there was nothing that pissed her off more than someone disturbing her just as her book was reaching the climax. She tried her absolute best to hold in her anger but holy shit the noise! If it even raised a single decibel then she was going to flip out on someone and she didn't care who got in the way! If this kept up, someone was going to die.
"Pooooooooor Noire… do people like falling on you? Or… or are you a people-falling-from-the-sky-magnet? First Neppy, then Nepgear, and now… ummmm…" Plutia scratched her head and turned towards both Silas and Reaver before walking towards them. "Mister people… what are your names?"
"Eh? Oh… my name's Silas, Silas Kain. And him? You can just call him Roadkill for the time being…" Silas said as he directed a thumb towards Reaver who swiftly facepalmed and began muttering something about not remembering why the hell he was called that… Silas rolled his eyes as Reaver spoke and turned his gaze back towards the four girls they'd crashed in the middle of. "And you guys are…?"
"It's not Roadkill! It's John Reaver… sheesh; please excuse my friend, ladies." He said while rolling his eyes before restating the question that Silas had just asked. "But yeah, who are you guys anyways?"
"Meeeeeeeeeee? I'm Plutia! That's Neptune, but I call her Neppy, the pillow you landed on is named Noire, the girl with the book is Blanc, and the last one is Verty!" Plutia said as she respectively pointed at each of the girls as she introduced them, ending with and innocent smile that, for whatever reason, sent chills up and down both of their spines.
"Alright that's enough of introductions… I think you guys have some explaining to do, where did you come from and how the hell did you end up falling from the sky?" Noire was understandably a little pissed off at both of them and who could blame her? If two armed men you'd never seen before fell from the sky and landed on you at different times wouldn't you at least be a little pissed off? Of course you would be! If it does ever happen to you though, lay off the drugs! "After using me as your landing pillow I feel like you guys owe me some answers…"
Silas and Reaver both agreed and began to think of what they were doing beforehand… but they couldn't remember… then they tried to think about what their world was like, they knew it was in a state of complete shit but, other than that, they couldn't remember a thing. Lastly, they tried thinking about their lives before falling into this world… but those memories were gone too. 'M-My memories… what the hell happened to my memories?' Silas thought as his eyes went wide with complete shock. "This will sound bizarre but… no matter how much I search my mind, I can't remember a damn thing."
"Wait you too?" Reaver said as his eyes turned to Silas and went wide with the same expression of shock and fear.
The messenger is standing at, standing at the gate
Ready to let go
Ready for the crash
The messenger
Too late for whispers
Too late for the blush
The past is mercy, when the future's glow
(Won't you let it go?)
Kneeling journey dressed in a cloak of shadows
The hunting's grim for the innocent eyes
Communions pray is a cup of sorrows
(But faith is colours) But faith is colours
For the humbling cries
The spirit is over town!
Waiting for me to hit the floor!
Blooming white sky for the voice of one! Calling tonight!
Tonight fate's the red crown!
The red crown around your door!
Time's scattering the seeds of the morning daylight!
The avenger is roaming through, roaming through the land
Ready for the clash
For the lasting gash
The avenger
Mothers kissing sons with a staff in hand
The bride is shining
While the groom is gold
(Won't you let it go?)
Shining worship choked in a wave of silver
The offering's grim for deceivers pride
Salvation man is a cup of fire
(But hope is the star)
But hope is the star on a morning tide
The spirit is over town!
Waiting for me to hit the floor!
Blooming white sky for the voice of one! Calling tonight!
Tonight fate's the red crown!
The red crown around your door!
Time's scattering the seeds of the morning daylight!
The pilgrims are gathering and the marching band,
The marching band's howling!
Compassion is the flag of a righteous man!
A righteous man will hold!
The pilgrims are gathering and the marching band,
The marching band's howling!
Compassion is the flag of a righteous man!
A righteous man will hold!
The spirit is over town!
Waiting for me to hit the floor!
Blooming white sky for the voice of one! Calling tonight!
Tonight fate's the red crown!
The red crown around your door!
Time's scattering the seeds of the morning daylight!
~The Messenger By: Your Favourite Enemies
Me: THIS SONG IS FREAKIN' AWESOME! –is too busy rocking out to notice all the weird looks I'm getting-
Noire: What kind of a fanfiction has a theme song?
Vert: Apparently this one…
Neppy Nep Nep: Uh… dude? We're like… on screen and the camrera's rolling…
Me: Huh? O-Oh… that was embarrassing… Errr… a-anyways! Welcome to the Post-Chapter Fire and Ice Talk Show! I am your host –placeholder-!
Neppy Kawaiiness: That's… a long name. Why not just call it Nepstation? After me! The main cha-"
Silas and Reaver: NOW HOLD ON A MINUTE!
Me: Sorry Nep… they're the main characters now…
Saddy Faced Nep Nep: …Huh?
Blanc: She doesn't look like she's taking it too well…
Me: I didn't think she would… Silas! Reaver! Apologize at once for crushing the hopes and dreams of this adorably adorable loli girl!
Silas: We didn't do anything!
Reaver: Silas, our writer is big Neptune fan so there's no way we're getting out of this without apologizing.
Silas: If he is then why isn't she the main character?
Reaver: Good question…
Noire: I actually have a question… your name is John Reaver, first name John, so… why are we calling you 'Reaver' instead of 'John'? Wouldn't that make more sense?
Reaver: -sighs deeply- Let's be honest… John is the lamest name in the world. That and one of the most common…
Noire: That makes sense…
That Poor Sad Nep Nep: I-I'm not the main character…?
Everyone: Remember Mark II?
Blanc: Get used to it… it's not the first time.
Me: I have yet to explain the purpose of this section… this is sort of where we, writers and characters, interact with you, the readers! If you have any questions for me or the characters, feel free to ask! We shall also be responding to feedback and reviews you may leave! Just keep this in mind… this fanfic will indeed have… darker moments. I just feel obligated to let you know what you're signing up for by reading this! The story will indeed take some dark turns so be ready for 'em! Anyways, this is –placeholder- and I shall see you all next time!