[Chapter 1.0]

Uni forces herself to jump one last time, ducking into an alleyway and disappearing behind some boxes, breathing heavily. As the footsteps of the Lastation guards pass by her hiding place, shouting something indistinct, she carefully checks on her shotgun and finds it still in pristine condition. The only thing missing is a single shell - the shell she had used to almost kill a human being.

Thank god it was only almost. Had the bullet gone even slightly to the right, or been a fraction of a second quicker, the girl would be dead, a piece of lead buried in the depths her heart, which would have stopped beating. She would have been a murderer.

Murderer. The word echoes through her mind, quickening her heartbeat, causing her to break out in a nervous sweat for the third time that day. Murderer.


There had been no real reason for her to do it. The girl had simply been walking on the street, minding her own business. She, too, had simply been out on a shopping trip, looking for some new parts to upgrade her gun with, just to kill time. She had been scheduled to meet with Nepgear later on in the afternoon, after the latter finished with a kill quest in a town to the south of Planeptune's capital city, near the little town of Celeste, so she had been in high spirits.

Then, an uncontrollable urge had come over her, without warning, like the proverbial anvil falling from the sky onto a sinner's head, leaving her no time to even think of resisting. She needed to hurt, to wound, to kill. It was a need even more pressing, even more powerful, than a body's need for oxygen, or the Goddess's need for shares in order to maintain their power. Her vision blurred out, covered by a red film.

Her body had moved of it's own accord, and before she could react, she had raised her gun, fired at the girl. Thankfully, the girl had seen her taking aim and desperately dove for cover, so the bullet did nothing more than punch a bloody hole through her right arm. It's painful, and would take forever to heal, even with the aid of alchemical potions, but it's better than being dead.

She had stood there, staring blankly at the smoking barrel of her gun, not moving a muscle, unable to believe what she had just done. Mercilessly shot at a civilian, only to satisfy her own urges - the fact that she had never experienced anything like it counted for little. What does that make her? Nothing more than a criminal? Who was she to act as Candidate, protect the nation, when she harmed one of her people so easily and without remorse? And it was true. Try as she might, she could not feel guilt.

Only when the familiar sound of the boots Lastation guards wore clicking against the ground found its way to her ears did she realise what trouble she was in.

Without thinking, she turned and fled.


"What have I done..." she murmurs, her breath coming only in agonisingly random spurts, "Noire would be so disappointed... Nepgear... what would she say to me..."

She slides down onto the ground, burying her head in her arms, trying to make herself as small as possible, to disappear from this world, at least until what she had done had been forgotten. Why? What had come over her? Most importantly, what was she going to do now?

Going back to the Basilicom is out of the question. She'd be arrested right away, and there's no way she'd dare to turn her gun to the guards pursuing her, not even just to fire a few shots at their feet to scare them off - it's not like she'd actually shoot to kill. Not after that. She could contact Noire, but she doesn't have the courage. To explain to her sister what she had done would be unthinkable. The way she would look at her, eyes full of disappointment, confusion, and maybe even fear - how could she stand that? But if she stays here and does nothing, she'll be found sooner rather than later.

She's running out of time. There's no other option. Nepgear - she would know what to do. She would listen. She'd help. Her hands shaking slightly, Uni reaches into her pocket and retrieves her cell phone, her fingers tapping in the eight numbers that would get her in contact with the one person in the world she trusts above everyone and anyone else. The connection will be immediate, and the Purple Sister will receive a notification, warning her that the matter is urgent.

She taps the last number, and brings her phone up to her ears. She doesn't dare to turn on visuals - the call might be intercepted and observed, and doing so might reveal her location. "N-Nepgear?"


The lilac purple-haired girl in question is currently in the thick of a massive battle. Surrounded by four S-Class floating monsters with bulbous, glowing abdomens and draconic features, she is fighting, literally, for her life. Regardless of how she had planned on conserving energy to go flying around with Uni in the afternoon, now was not the time to hold back.

"Processor Unit, activate!" she calls, and her body is engulfed in light, her clothes transforming into a white bodysuit, two semi-transparent pinkish wings appearing out of nowhere, hovering slightly behind her shoulder blades. Her ace-in-the-hole, the Hard Drive Divinity, a perk of being a CPU, if only just a candidate. Her speed and strength instantly multiplied tenfold, she jumps up and lands a direct hit on the first monster's forehead, sending it reeling.

Another monster swipes at her, and she quickly dives under it's attack, skimming under it facing upwards with her wings almost touching the ground, firing several shots into it's sensitive abdomen. As the beast screams in pain and rage, she quickly gains altitude again, surveying the battlefield from in the air. The four beasts, which she had lured away from the nearby town of Celeste, were concentrated beneath her, their meagre levitation powers being insufficient for them to chase her so high up into the clouds.

A 'bling' sound interrupts her thoughts, as a blue, translucent screen pops up on the side of her vision. A message, and an urgent one. "What the goodness - Emergency... From Uni?" she murmurs, "Why now, of all times?"

She glances down, and sees the monsters losing interest, beginning to turn back to where more humans were gathered for their consumption. She's running out of time - action needs to be taken, and fast, especially if Uni is in danger and needs her help. There's no choice but to multitask. She taps the display, and the connection is made.

"N-Nepgear?" Uni's voice is shaking and clearly distressed."Are you there?"

"Uni! Are you all right? What happened?" She asks, swooping back down and firing at the fastest monster's retreating back, drawing it's attention to her again, "Why are you calling me?"

"I - I don't know what happened to me - Nepgear, is that gunfire?"

"Yes - I'm doing a kill quest right now." She replies, swerving to the right to evade a fireball spewed in her direction and continuing to fire at the monster, "It's okay, just tell me what's going on. I'll be right there when I finish, I promise."

"Well, I was walking on the street this morning, and I-"

Nepgear dives, twirling backwards through the air and firing shots at each of the four monsters in turn, taunting them, angering them, forcing them to focus on her and not on the people evacuating the town. When all for of them are focused on her once more, she swings around and fires several shots into the nearest one's forehead.

"- S-something came over me, I don't know what happened, all I saw was -"

She flies through the air, landing on the previous one's forehead and and stabbing her blade directly into it's cranium, causing the beast to roar in pain, flailing around and slamming into the ground. She continues to slash at it as it falls, opening up multiple gaping wounds in it's forehead. Blood spurts everywhere, and the sickening sound of tearing flesh fills the air.

"- It's like everything suddenly went red, and - Nepgear? What's going on? Why -" Uni's voice, previously still relatively calm, now had a definite air of panic to it.

The first beast falls, dead on the ground, and Nepgear turns to the second, spinning around in the air once as she swerves to be behind it, unleashing several powerful shots straight into a piece of exposed skin on it's side. A strange, creeping redness begins to overcome her vision as the beast howls in agony, and she slams her body into it, driving her blade into the monster's stomach, twisting it around like a corkscrew. A wholly unnecessary gesture, calculated only to inflict pain.

"Nepgear, answer me, Nepgear! Nepgear!"

She's losing herself. Her body is tingling, and the part of her that is still aware of her own actions realises that it feels good. The feeling of her blade passing through flesh like water, tearing it apart, hearing the anguished screams of her victims - it's like music to her ears. She draws her sword out from the monster's side, slamming it into the back of its skill and splitting it in two.

"Nepgear, what's that sound? Why are you laughing?"

She's laughing - she realises that now. Uncontrollable, maniacal laughter escapes from her lungs, blending together with the monster's final scream before it collapses on the ground, unconscious. She moves onto the next one. More. Scream more, bleed more. Cover my body with your blood. Sooth my ears with your screams. Dance for me.

"Nepgear, what are you saying? Nepgear!"

The third east pulls back slightly as she approaches it, fear evident in it's eyes. They are the first to go, her blade inserted through them, straight into the monster's brain. It writhes in the air before crashing into the ground, flailing about blindly, squealing as it attempts to swat the purple-haired Candidate out of the air. Uni, can you hear it scream? Isn't it a beautiful sound, Uni? Let me hear more. More! Uni, listen!

"Nepgear, what do you - What's happening? Stop it! Nepgear!"

Only the last one left. Can you hear it screaming, Uni? Isn't it wonderful? Her body isn't hers to control any more, nothing more than a slave to bloodlust and sadistic pleasure. "Celestial Severance!" Her sword glows with a bright, white light, as the fleeing monster is instantly engulfed in a series of brutal, almost instantaneous slashes, it's life drained away in the blink of an eye. Listen, Uni! Listen!

The last monster crashes onto the ground, lifeless, it's now-silent, bleeding body slowly disintegrating into nothingness just as those of its comrades do the same. A silence falls over the forest, broken only by Nepgear's uneven breathing. The last, dying cries of her final victim echo slightly before fading away.

"Nepgear?" Uni asks, her voice even more unsteady than it was before, carrying with it a sense of terror, more unnerved by the silence that followed than the sounds of the slaughter that had occured just seconds ago, "W-what's going on? H-hey, are you there? Nepgear?"

"Uni... what's happening to me? Uni, what's... why... Who are you..." The line goes dead as the candidate's body, suddenly drained of all energy, falls forward, onto the ground, unconscious, her clothes soaked through and through with the putrid redness of the monsters' blood.

A blue display pops up, although no-one is there to see it. It reads: "Kill Quest Completed."


Far away in Lowee's capital, it's snowing, as it always is. In the courtyard of CPU White Heart's residence, two young girls are bent over the contorted, unmistakably dead body of a squirrel, it's blood seeping into the snow, dyeing it red. Just seconds ago, it had been squealing in pain, calling out in its primitive squirrel language for its parents, before its life had suddenly been ended by the snapping of its neck and the crushing of it's body.

"Ram... I'm scared, Ram..." the one with shorter hair murmurs, tears in her eyes, "What's... what's happening? Why did we... Why was everything red...?"

The one with longer hair, usually the one to provide comfort and support, has no words for her sister this time. But she knows that she must be strong one, so she reaches out and takes her younger sister by the hand. "It's okay, Rom, Blanc will know - Mina will..." she says, trying to be comforting as she heads inside, but failing on account of the tears streaming down her own face. She attempts to think of something to say, but can't.

The two of them disappear into Lowee's Basilicom, shaking, clinging onto each other, their clothes still splattered - albeit only slightly, a squirrel can only bleed so much - with blood. Their two wands lie criss-crossed on the ground where they had dropped them, the glow of the telekinesis spell that had lifted the squirrel up into the air and wrung the life out of it still not entirely faded from the gems at their tip.


IF blinks the sleep away from her eyes. It's afternoon now, and the pale orange ceiling of her room within the Planeptune basilicom is lit up faintly by the sunlight streaming through the open windows. She had been on a late night solo espionage mission the previous day, all the way in Leanbox, to ascertain some rumours about them developing some sort of new anti-crystal technology. So, her short nap was anything if not well-deserved.

Looking down at herself, IF notes that she hadn't bothered to change into her pyjamas before collapsing into bed. Strange, but not completely unusual. The thought that she ought to have paid Vert a visit before she left crosses her mind, but it's too late to go back now. She hadn't bothered to wash herself, either, so she still smells vaguely of sweat and... something else.

That's when she notices the knife in her hand.

"What..." she murmurs, still not entirely awake, staring at the blade with a blank expression on her face. She does own a rather extensive collection of knives, but she is certain that this one isn't hers. It's a very good one, as well - the glinting blackness of the blade means that it's well-polished, and it's weight is perfect, not too light to be effective, but not too heavy either.

She sniffs the air again, and she catches it this time, more clearly - the previously undefined stench in the air, the smell of dried blood. She looks down at herself, but can't find the source. Her clothes and her own body are clean, but the smell remains, taunting her, laughing at her inability to discover its source.

Green Sister, do you remember now?

IF blinks, looking around desperately in an attempt to find the source of the voice that had spoken to her, but finding none. Never before has she experienced anything quite like this. A mixture of curiosity, confusion, and most importantly, fear. The feeling of having something sinister inside your mind, where you can't see it, much less fight it, isn't a pleasant one.

Green Sister, can you feel it?

"Who are you?" She asks, keeping her cool. While she isn't a Goddess, she is still a member of the guild, as well as one of Planeptune's most efficient information agents. Acting calmly in unknown and frequently terrifying situations is part of her job.

She runs the name over in her mind. Green Sister. Just like Nepgear was Purple Sister and Uni Black Sister, this voice was calling her Green Sister. It's an easy connection to make, but at the same time, it makes no sense. She is a normal human - that, at least in her mind is an undeniable fact. No matter how much she would like to be gifted with the powers of a CPU, to rule alongside Vert forever, nothing will change the fact that she was born a human and will stay that way.

Your lust, your greed, your anger, can you feel it, Green Sister? Do you remember now, Green Sister?

"Stop calling me that." She replies, a bit too quickly and a bit too shakily, "Where are you? Why are you here?"

I'm inside you, Green Sister. Do you remember now, Green Sister? Can you feel it yet, Green Sister?

"Stop." She replies, her voice cracking slightly, her palms getting clammy, her heartbeat accelerating. There's something surfacing inside of her, something foreign, unknown, terrifying but at the same time welcoming. "What are you doing? Show yourself!"

I'm not doing anything, Green Sister. You are doing this to yourself, Green Sister, this is you. Can you remember, Green Sister? Green Sister, are you ignoring me? Don't ignore me, Green Sister. Soon, you won't be able to ignore me any longer, Green Sister. Green Sister. Green Sister.

IF shivers slightly, suddenly assailed by a biting cold unlike anything she has experienced before. There's something vaguely ridiculous about the way the voice insistently repeated her title, but that very ridiculousness is terrifying in it's own way. Her hands shake, her room blurs out in front of her, a creeping redness making its way into her vision. Inside her, a new, unfamiliar but extremely pressing need begins to surface. The need to harm, to main, to kill. To watch gleefully as the eyes of her victim go dull, and the life drains from their body. The knife in her hand grows unbearably heavy, it's blade humming, eagerly anticipating the moment it will be used.

"Get out... Stop calling me that...it... w... what are you doing?" She asks, her voice no louder than a whisper, fused with an incontrollable, overpowering terror. "I'm not Green Sister, I'm not who you think I am. Leave me alone. Leave me alone!"

Can you feel it, Green Sister? Do you remember now?

IF grimaces, turning the knife over in her hand, simultaneous urges - to kill and to flee, to hide - battling each other, two homunculi within her head having a debate that can't exactly be described as civil. The part of her mind that remains unaffected by the intense bloodlust welling up within her tells her to seek help. But more importantly, she has to disarm herself, before it gets worse, and the horrific vision of blood pooling on the ground, drawn by her own blade becomes a reality.

She blinks, and, whirling around, flings the knife away with every last ounce of her strength. She had been half-expecting it to be glued to her hand or something, but thankfully it isn't, and lodges itself deep into the wall, sinking in all the way to it's hilt. The sound of the impact, loud and sudden, seems to have at least temporarily silenced the voice in her head.

Panting heavily, leaning against the wall and drenched in sweat, IF stares at the knife like it's some kind of terrifying beast, the red that had been overtaking her vision slowly receding.

"What... what in God's name was that?"


A/N: Okay, that's it for now. This chapter was mostly just set-up, the 'real' plot will be starting soon enough.

Hope you enjoyed it, updates coming 'soon' (by that, I mean 'the next time I can be bothered').


Another Note: After someone PMed me with a bit of confusion regarding this, I thought I'd make it clear here. This story is set in an Alternate Universe, in which (almost) all the characters exist within a single dimension (i.e. Plutia/Peashy, Seven Sages, CPUs, ASIC, etc), and the stories of Hyperdimension and Ultradimension are sort of woven into one single history. Nothing that has taken place within the games has occured, except for the characters meeting each other and becoming friends. If you've read Overheat (great fanfic by the way), it's sort of like that.

Again, thanks for reading.


Another Note: Okay, so I'm a bit of an idiot, and I screwed that last one up. Hyperdimension, Ultradimension, Heart/Zero Dimension all exist, with their own histories and all that jazz. So just ignore the part about their histories being fused and them not existing as separate dimensions.