A/N

WARNING: major spoilers for one of the endings to Hyperdimension Neptunia mk2/Re;Birth2. Seriously, if you haven't played either of the games, go buy Re;Birth2 on Steam and go 100% it. Come back after.

Excel is from the fanfic Green Brother by snakebit1995. Go read it, it's good. Afterwards, go yell at him to make more chapters.

With that, I present to you:

Green Brother: A Lover's Lament

(Nepgear's POV)

I never wanted this.

The sword grew colder on my back as we flew towards Leanbox.

I shouldn't have had to do this.

The strength from the gained shares did nothing for the weight in my chest.

I just wanted everyone to be happy.

"What's gettin ya down, sis?" I didn't understand how Neptune could stay happy in a situation like this. She seemed unchanged.

There must have been a better way.

"Nothing, it's just... we just need to find them, and then..."

"What's this 'and' you speak of?" a maturely feminine voice interrupted. We turned around and saw Vert standing a distance away. And beside her...

"Excel..." I whispered to myself.

I don't want to do this!

"Hello, Nepgear." His voice was tinged with various emotions. None of them were pleasant.

"Whoa, the two lovers are having a disagreement! This'll be fun" My sister was, as always, very bad at reading the atmosphere.

"Enough talking!" Vert's voice cut in. "I'm afraid we must be taking that sword now. After all, why must you be the ones to defeat the Deity of Sin?" She looked at me. "Nepgear, don't you want to be free from the burdens you show?"

"We've ended too many lives to pass it off now!" I spoke in retort.

When did I learn to talk back like that?

"Is that all they were to you? 'Lives'? Am I just another 'life'?" Excel spoke up. He spat out the words with an unimaginable anger.

"I... Excel, I don't want this. You know how much I care about you!" I tried to say.

"And I cared for you. But," he said, looking betrayed, "I cared for Uni too. And you killed her!" I flinched at his tone. It was so unlike him to raise his voice like this. I suppose I deserved it.

"I'm sorry, I..." I couldn't find the words to excuse my actions. Perhaps there were none.

I held my head down.

"Darling Nepgear, why don't you let me help you wash the blood off of your hands for you?" I looked up and saw that he had transformed. Even as he involuntarily flirted, the words were tinged with hate. Vert transformed as well.

"Well, I guess this is the only way!" Neptune said as we transformed in response.

After a long and arduous fight, the green siblings' strength was failing, and their transformations had broken. Neptune and I landed, changing back to human form.

"Vert and Excel, please, stand down!" I called out, "You can't keep fighting like this!"

"If you want us to stop fighting, then take the sword and kill us! Or are you too weak? Where's the strong-willed woman I fell in love with, huh?" Excel taunted, but I could tell his strength was failing.

"No! That's not fair!" I tried to defend myself.

"Then hand the sword over to me!" Vert screamed in reply.

"Gear, if you aren't gonna do it, we should fall back." IF said out of nowhere. Neptune and I nodded in agreement, and we retreated.

Five minutes later, there was screaming from where we came.

We ran back and found a very beaten-down Vert and an excited Underling standing over her. Excel was off to the side, lying unconscious against a wall.

"Ahahaha! Killing a CPU will make me famous in ASIC! I won't be an Underling anymore!" The gray-skinned villain cheered as she repeatedly struck the suffering CPU.

"Why you..." without thinking, I unsheathed my sword and ran it through Underling's chest from behind.

"Wha-you bitch! I can't... die... like this..." she faded quickly.

"You could have been so much more... but instead, this is your end." I said.

"Augh..."

"Vert!" Neptune exclaimed, before running to her side. "C'mon Vert, stay strong, we can patch you up."

"W-Why would you help me? Aren't you going to kill me?" she said weakly, "do it. Don't let my death be in vain."

"Vert... If it's what you want, then..." Neptune nodded to me. I handed her the cursed blade, and with it the green CPU was no more. Neptune gave the sword back

There was still one more person there though.

"V-vert? S-sis...?"

We had forgotten about Excel while worrying about Vert. He was in a similarly horrible state. My chest tightened as I realized again what must be done. I ran to him.

"Excel, I'm so sorry, we-"

"You two did it, didn't you..." Despite his failing health, I could still hear anger in his voice.

"Y-yes..."

For a second there was a blinding light, and suddenly he was in his CPU form. He still seemed worn out, though.

"You shouldn't do that! You won't be able to hold it for very long!" I gasped in shock. Was he going to fight me?

"Nepgear, my darling..."

*Was this really the time?*

"...this form will understand better what I must do."

"Huh?"

"The sword, love. Use it." He grunted in pain.

I looked at him in shock. "No! You can't die... I can't live without you!"

"I'll always be with you, my love. I will help you win. I want the best for you. Now let me help."

With tears in my eyes and no other option, I leaned in and kissed him. When we broke, I took the blade and stabbed him. He smiled.

"This is all I could have asked for, a beautiful woman to send me off."

His transformation finally broke.

"Bye, Nepgear."

He faded.

"G-goodbye..."

I broke down and started crying. Neptune, who had been watching the whole thing, came over and put her hand on my shoulder.

"C'mon Nep Jr, let's go home. There's just one more thing to do."

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A/N

Dammit, I made myself cry.

I hope all of you enjoyed this. It was my first attempt at a fanfic after all, so it's probably garbage.

There's a few things I would personally do to improve this story, specifically removing Underling. The original fic likes her, so I feel kinda bad, but eh, I'm too lazy to make an alternative.

Quick question, is it still an OC if it's someone else's OC that I'm using in a story while giving credit to them? Food for thought.

I originally thought of this story because...ok, maybe I did just want to kill Excel, and that's what led to me writing this. But please know that I only wrote this because I love the fanfic. It's a surprisingly good story for being a self-insert fanfic that rewrites the plot of the game.

snakebit, if by some miracle you read this, please give me more.

Everyone else, thank you for reading!